Former Elkins Physician Convicted of $2.5 Million Tax Fraud

Former Elkins Physician Convicted of Tax Fraud

Nitesh Ratnakar, a 48-year-old former physician from Elkins, was found guilty of tax fraud on Tuesday. A federal jury convicted him on 41 counts of failing to pay nearly $2.5 million in payroll taxes.

Ratnakar owned a gastroenterology practice and a medical equipment company in Elkins. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in February. The jury learned that he withheld payroll taxes from his employees’ paychecks but did not send those funds to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), failing to pay a total of $2,419,560. He also filed false tax returns in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Ratnakar faces a possible sentence of up to five years in prison for each of the first 38 counts and up to three years for the remaining counts. A federal district court judge will set the final sentence, considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jarod Douglas and Eleanor Hurney. The IRS Criminal Investigation unit conducted the investigation. Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh oversaw the proceedings.