Indian-origin former CFO Aditya Humad was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to an Anti-Kickback Statute conspiracy.
Humad conspired to direct more than $540,000 in sham consulting fees to surgeons to induce the use of SpineFrontier products.
After his prison term, Humad will serve one year of supervised release and pay a $9,500 fine.
Aditya Humad, 41, a former chief financial officer of spinal implant company SpineFrontier Inc., was sentenced by a U.S. federal court on August 6 to four months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani also ordered the Cambridge resident to serve one year of supervised release and pay a $9,500 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, as reported by The New Indian Express.
Prosecutors said Humad conspired with SpineFrontier to direct more than $540,000 to surgeons through sham consulting arrangements. The payments were allegedly used to induce surgeons to use SpineFrontier products during surgeries, including procedures covered by Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Health Administration.
Humad was charged in September 2021 alongside Dr. Kingsley R. Chin, SpineFrontier's founder, president and CEO. He pleaded guilty in May 2026 to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.
According to The Times of India, Humad conspired to pay and direct more than $540,000 in sham consulting fees to surgeons. The arrangements purportedly paid physicians $250 to $1,000 per hour for consulting on SpineFrontier products, while prosecutors said the surgeons often performed only a small fraction of the reported work, if any.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley said the sentencing followed years of investigation into SpineFrontier, its executives and doctors who accepted the payments.
“This sentence is the culmination of years of dogged pursuit of SpineFrontier, its executives, Aditya Humad and Kingsley Chin, and multiple bribe-taking doctors.”
Foley added that authorities had recovered more than $4 million through related criminal and civil proceedings involving the executives, companies and physicians.
According to The New Indian Express, Humad and SpineFrontier entered into contracts with surgeons that purportedly paid $250 to $1,000 an hour for consulting work. Prosecutors said Humad instead directed payments to physicians to encourage them to use SpineFrontier products in surgeries.
The procedures included those paid for by Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Health Administration, while SpineFrontier generated millions of dollars in revenue from surgeries performed by the physicians, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Ted E. Docks said Humad “conspired to bribe surgeons to use his company's products” and paid them more than half a million dollars through sham consulting fees for work they did not perform. He said such kickback schemes “erode the public's trust in our health care system.”
The case also drew scrutiny over the potential impact of financial incentives on medical decision-making. Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG), said the scheme “sought to corruptly influence surgeons” and that Humad's actions “undermined critical safeguards designed to protect patients and the integrity of taxpayer-funded health care programs,”.
The surgeries at issue included procedures reimbursed through Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Health Administration, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley said authorities had recovered more than $4 million through related criminal and civil proceedings involving the executives, companies and physicians connected to the case. “Let these resolutions serve as notice that no matter how long it takes, and how sophisticated the scheme, we will crack down on health care fraud offences,” Foley said, according to The New Indian Express.
(Rh/TP/MSM)