MORRISTOWN — A husband and wife who formerly operated 10 medical imaging centers across New Jersey each pleaded guilty Monday to running a massive scheme to enrich themselves by providing kickbacks to doctors and falsifying records.

Rehan "Ray" Zuberi, 46, and his wife, Humara Paracha, 39, admitted they provided thousands of kickbacks of $50 to $150 to doctors to refer patients to their Diagnostic Imaging Affiliates centers for tests, even if they were unnecessary, between 2008 and 2014. The two live in Boonton Township.

Zuberi also admitted to such practices as changing the location where services were performed to increase reimbursement rates.

Some doctors were receiving as much as $2,000 per month in the scheme, court officials said.

Paracha, a co-owner of the imaging centers, pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit bribery. She would serve probation with no prison time, but must pay, along with her husband, a total of $1 million in restitution, under the plea agreement.

Zuberi pleaded guilty to the first-degree charge of financial facilitation, a form of money laundering, along with conspiracy to commit bribery.

The bribes totaled "several million dollars," acting state Attorney General John Hoffman said in a statement.

The Attorney General's Office will be recommending a sentence for Zuberi of either 10 years, with a minimum of four years served in prison, or eight years, with a minimum of two years, eight months served.

Superior Court Judge Stuart Minkowitz in Morristown scheduled sentencing for both for June 12.

Later in the day, Zuberi pleaded guilty to second-degree conspiracy to commit theft by deception before Superior Court Judge James Guida in Bergen County, according to a statement issued by acting Attorney General John Hoffman.

That charge stemmed from a separate insurance fraud office investigation that found that Zuberi had received reimbursements from insurers for repairs well in excess of what he had actually paid, thus receiving more than $100,000 in overpayments, Hoffman said.

DIA has offices in Hackensack, Elizabeth, Wayne, Jersey City, Englewood , Edison, West Orange, Union City and Montville and most are expected to reopen soon under new management.

The state seized all the centers and their assets following the arrests of the couple and 11 others in June 2014, but a recent civil court order forced the state to return $500,000 to facilitate the reopenings, said Zuberi's attorney, Riz Dagli. A management company, Centers for Imaging, is now operating the centers, Dagli said.

This was not the first case of its kind for Zuberi. He pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicaid in 1998 and under his plea agreement, he was barred from doing further business with state or federal agencies.

When Zuberi and the others were arrested last June, acting Attorney General John Hoffman decribed their operation as a massive Medicaid fraud scheme which allegedly paid out $300,000 in kickbacks and reeled in $8 million.

However, in Monday's proceeding, the operation was described as a kickback and insurance fraud scheme that did not focus on Medicaid.

Zuberi also agreed to cooperate with authorities and identify additional defendants. He can get six months shaved off his sentence, and four months cut from his parole ineligibility, by providing "substantial assistance" on five more defendants, up to a maximum of 20 defendants. But he still must serve a minimum of two years, eight months in state prison before reaching parole eligibility.

Also, as part of his cooperation agreement, the Attorney General's Office agreed to oppose his deportation. Zuberi is a native of Pakistan. His wife, Paracha, was born in Queens, N.Y. and is a U.S. citizen.

Six doctors and one chiropractor were arrested and charged last year. Last month, three others who participated in Zuberi's scheme pleaded guilty to their respective crimes, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Among them was Simon B. Santos, 73, a doctor from Guttenberg, who pleaded guilty to third-degree commercial bribery, the office said. Santos admitted that beginning prior to April 2010, he received an approximate total of $30,000 in cash bribes directly from Zuberi, according to the Attorney General's Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.

Santos said he received airline tickets, event tickets and rent payments from Zuberi for space that Zuberi did not use, according to the insurance fraud office.

Jose Lopez, 52, of Passaic, admitted that between 2010 and 2014 he offered payments to medical practitioners for patient referrals to DIA facilities owned by Zuberi. In that same span, he admitted to making numerous structured cash withdrawals to circumvent the statutory reporting requirements that are triggered by large cash withdrawals, the Attorney General's Office said.



Felix Clarin, 45, of Florham Park, also admitted that between 2010 and 2014, he offered payments to medical practitioners for patient referrals to DIA facilities owned by Zuberi, the AG's office said.

"Zuberi built a company that made millions and whose business model was predicated on paying bribes and making misrepresentations to insurance companies," Acting Attorney General John Hoffman said in a statement. "His criminal enterprise was noteworthy for the sheer volume of greedy transactions that left a long trail of evidence that led to this successful prosecution."



"Bribery undermines the insurance market, causing business to flow to the wrong places, which inflates rates for everyone that pays premiums," added Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Ronald Chillemi. "To their patients, a doctor's opinion is sacred, and it should not be for sale."



Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook.