HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A disgraced Huntsville doctor is among the 1,500 people receiving presidential pardons and commutations.
Shelinder Aggarwal, now 56, was sentenced in 2017 to 15 years in prison for issuing illegal prescriptions and health care fraud. Federal prosecutors described him as "the nation’s highest Medicare prescriber of opioid painkillers."
Last week, President Joe Biden announced clemency consisting of 39 pardons and 1,499 commutations. The latter reduces the sentence of someone who is convicted of a crime but does not clear their record.
A Madison County educator is among the pardon recipients. Aggarwal's name is on the list of those whose sentences will be cut short.
Aggarwal pleaded guilty to one count of distributing a controlled substance outside the scope of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose and to one count of conspiring to execute a health care fraud scheme against Medicare and BCBS of Alabama.
At the time of his plea, he had already repaid $2.8 million to Medicare and $45,843 to BCBS of Alabama.
“This defendant directly contributed to the opioid epidemic that is plaguing our nation,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Roger C. Stanton said. “He also cost taxpayers millions of dollars by fraudulently claiming government reimbursement for thousands of lab tests that he never used to treat patients."
Aggarwal surrendered his medical license in 2013, after the allegations surfaced.
Records reviewed by FOX54 show he is at a halfway house in Montgomery and is set to be released on Dec. 22.
