What Real Estate Investors Can Learn From a $150M Healthcare Fraud | Mashiyat Rashid

Mashiyat Rashid (00:00)

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is being forthcoming and transparent with your loved ones, being forthcoming and transparent with your business partners. Now listen, this is documented. I’m not saying this. The government, the federal government wrote it on my behalf that I built a sprawling network. Now how does someone who’s not a physician, who’s not a medical professional, build a sprawling network of medical professionals?

And that’s how you do it. You build a relationship. Did I do it honestly? Was the initial start process good? Were my intentions pure? Absolutely. did I take the scalability process and start bending the rules? Absolutely. So both things can be true at the same time. What I value most now is being honest, not just personally, but in the business world.

Quentin Edmonds (01:15)

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am excited to be here today. I’m excited about my guests. Y’all know what excites me the most is the fact when we get to glean from other people’s experience. I believe we all can literally doing the same thing. Y’all probably heard me say this before. We could be doing the same thing, but we’re still going to do it differently because we are different.

Our perspectives are differently. Our stories are different. The way we process is different. So everybody has a story to tell and we’re going to learn from everybody’s story, But today I have somebody special here today who has a story to tell. I can’t wait for us to dive into it. He said I can call him Mash So I’m going to call him Maj. If he wanna give you the whole name, I’ll leave that up to him. But this is my friend Mash. Mash how are you doing today, sir?

Mashiyat Rashid (02:06)

Good man. How you doing, Quentin?

Quentin Edmonds (02:08)

man, sir, I’m doing good. Thank you for being here. I’ll probably reiterate this again. I said it to you before. Thank you for your time, man. I think time is our most precious commodity. So thank you, man. Thank you for lending us some of your time. And Mash sir, I really like to dive in. So I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little origin story, kind of how you got into this space that you’re in.

And people always seem like to know where people are geographically. So we if you want to tell people where you are in the world, people they love to connect the dots and stuff like that. So Mash, sir, I turn the floor over to you. You have the rings, my friend.

Mashiyat Rashid (02:46)

Yep, Quentin, my name is Mashiyat Rashid, and I was a former CEO of a sprawling healthcare network called Tri-County Wellness. And we were a multi-specialty medical practice that did family medicine, internal medicine, neurology, cardiology, and pain management.

We also had a high complexity laboratory and we had a surgical center, the only C O N, it’s a certificate of need that needs to be processed in order to even have a surgical center, an ASC is how they call it, an ambulatory surgical center. So we did that for over a decade. And it’s a special story in the fact that you know, and it how we connect is there are a lot of real estate guys that are in the real estate space that never even realize that they can

sort of partake in the healthcare industry as an MSO. So that’s why I thought it was an interesting dialogue where we could connect with a lot of your listeners. What I did was and let me clarify, I am not a doctor, I’m not a surgeon, I’m not a scientist, I have no medical background. What I have was a business degree from the University of Michigan Dearborn. And what I created was a sprawling MSO, short for

management service organization. When now ninety-five percent of society doesn’t even know how this operates. When you go to any hospital system, you’re really going under an MSO. A man these hospital systems are tied in with these management service organizations, ones that I own and operated. Same thing with these private equities. The way they get into the healthcare sector is through the MSO contract. The medical team provides the medical services and the MSO handles everything else, which is what I did.

Quentin Edmonds (04:26)

Love it, man. Sir, thank you. so what are you up to now? what you’re doing now, man? So

Mashiyat Rashid (04:31)

just the storyline to continue in 2003. I mean, 2002, I graduated and then I started my own consulting firm. And in 2008 is when we opened my healthcare portfolio. And in 2017, as a cautionary tale for all of the listeners, it’s very important for them to know this: that I was indicted on healthcare fraud charges. And I’ll tell you how we structured it, because there was a large number of doctors and surgeons that were indicted with me.

At that time in 2017, it was one of the largest healthcare fraud operations in US history, as charted by not just the media, but the government cited this. So it was very large in that scale that I very normalized and optimizing operation. We hear about that word all the time: optimizing this, optimizing that. In the healthcare sector, from what other people called me, I was the guru in the industry. But it actually worked against me because our revenues and profit margins.

were 300% higher than the industry standard. And when that happens in the healthcare sector, it eventually is translated to the word fraud. And that’s really what we’ll understand. And right now, so I did some time in the feds. I was out this year, January of 2026. And now what I’m doing is just telling the story, man. It’s very important to share the story. And I do that in speaking engagements.

Universities now are in a very unique position with NIL deals. You have a lot of wave of future millionaires and already millionaires with some of these big schools right now. And I just tell them the cautionary tale because most of them won’t be going into the NFL or staying in the NFL very long or the NBA very long. What they will be doing at some point is going into the business world, going into the real estate world. And one thing that they never knew, possibly even going into the healthcare world as an MSO.

Quentin Edmonds (06:17)

Yeah. Mash man, thank you, sir. Thank you for sharing the story, kinda letting us know, walk us through kind of how you got to where you are, where you are now, some of the things that transpired. Mash, I often say destiny has no wasted moments, right? Destiny has no wasted moments. We learn from every leg of our journey. We learn from the failure, we learn from the losses, we learn from the success.

We learned from it all, right? So I would love to know for you, what has the journey revealed to you about yourself? Has it made you more disciplined? Has it made you more humble? Has it increased your tenacity? Like what is this journey revealed to Mash about Mash? Well

Mashiyat Rashid (07:00)

I’ll

tell you in 2017, July 13th, up until 5:30 AM, I was the most impressive man I had ever met. and that’s how I even opened I wrote a memoir. and that’s how even I opened that memoir. It’s actually titled Medicine Mafia Incorporated. how this system, sort of healthcare system as a whole, operates and it bleeds upwards of nine hundred thirty-five billion a year. So that’s one component. my loss amount was 150 million, and I thought.

That’s my partaking in this 935 billion that goes my life. Justified

Quentin Edmonds (07:30)

Yeah.

Mashiyat Rashid (07:31)

it. I justified it. And that’s the truth of the matter, Quentin. I justified all my actions and I normalized the fraud because there was fraud involved. And that’s really what I teach the young goers, the next wave of entrepreneurs that’s going to be going out into the industry. so at that time, yeah, again, I was the most important man and the most impressive man I’ve ever met.

5 30 a.m. when a battering ram came through the front door of my double doors, custom doors, and they not only indicted me, but they detained me. I was the only one out of all the doctors. and I again I’m not a doctor, but I was the only one detained, put in county jail waiting for this trial process. So one thing, and I like the what you mentioned, humble, I think humility is really what I learned. Man, another thing I really learned, and I wish the people can really value this now before.

anything bad ever happens to them and it’s gratitude, being thankful of my life’s circumstances because I lost everything. When that indictment comes, you lose everything. And that’s what the American people don’t realize. You lose your family, which is the most biggest pillar that you have in your life, a wife can only endure so much during a fifteen year incarceration sentence, So

I blame no one, not a one person, even in my indictment, not a one besides myself, the man who was at the apex of it, because I should have done better. So that’s the third component is responsibility. So responsibility, gratitude, and humility. And I think you nailed one of them

Quentin Edmonds (09:37)

Mash man, sir. Thank you, man. Thank you for sharing this. Gratitude, that’s the word that really just popped off through the screen when you was talking, right? Because so as people talk, I see in pictures. Like, and so my wife and I, and I love how you said a wife can only take for so much. Man, you talking, my brother. my wife and I, we have something that we call the gratitude jar. That’s what we’ll do, we’ll write down things that we’re grateful for throughout the year.

We’ll stuff it into the jar. And then what we do on New Year’s, as the ball is dropping, we’re reading the things that we’ve been grateful for all year. And so that way we’re bringing the year in with gratitude. And also, it you love stories, right? It tells the story of the year because it’s letting you know how much has really transpired for you to be grateful for. And so it’s just it was so beautiful when we did it last year. So

That word grateful man just kind of pops off the screen. So I’m so glad you meant that responsibility, being humble and gratitude. Thank you so much, man.

Mashiyat Rashid (10:41)

Yeah,

yeah, And I loved your story, actually. I’m gonna try that. if I’m ever in a relationship again, that’s what I’m gonna.

Quentin Edmonds (10:47)

It’s powerful, man. I mean, you could do it on your own, too. So it’s powerful. Yeah, there you go. Exactly. so man, so one of my favorite books is Atomic Habits by James Clear Love that book. man, Mash you should definitely. I wish I had I normally had my books stacked up beside me, but I did some movement, some things around. But he talks about building healthy habits. one of the statements that he made, he says, we don’t.

rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our habits. So our habits is like the foundational point. If we’re gonna fall, we’re gonna fall to the habits that we already have built in place. So Mash I would love to know what are some now you talked about optimizing operations. So I’m gonna ask you two ways. What are some of the habits that you have now that is really reinforcing your growth, the change in your mentality? And maybe because you are a businessman in heart,

What are some maybe operational things that you’re putting in place to kind of rebuild and rebound with your wealth build?

Mashiyat Rashid (11:48)

That’s a that’s a great question, Q. I’m gonna mention this. Anytime that I have a person email me or send me a direct message, one of the greatest questions they ask is because they’re so sort of compelled by the story, is that hey man, can you build something like this with me without the legal actions that was taken against you? Because

They’ve never known for something like this to exist. Sure, everyone knows the real estate industry. Sure, certain people know this, certain no, but no one really outside of medicine itself knew that there’s a healthcare sector that creates this absorbed amount of wealth. I think when you go to even

Sentinel-media.com, which is our website, and they show you some of the pictures and the lifestyle that I lived. It was an opulent lifestyle, a kid in his 20s. I’m an inner city project kid from Detroit, just so you know. My parents came as immigrants to this country. They came on scholarship to this country. They weren’t handed anything. I came with I was a five-year-old kid carrying a large empty suitcase to Metro Detroit. And I lived in Detroit for the first 10 years. So those are learning lessons.

when there’s snow on the ground and people are saddened or this is me welcoming something that I’ve never experienced. So I took it as joy. And that’s really what I encourage people because who we are is a reflection of who we will be in the business world, And I built this great Rolodex of all these people that were a part of my team. And at the end of the day, it was my greed, my willingness to break and bend and do certain things that compromise the whole, infrastructure.

And that’s really what I focus in on now is compliance. Build it right the first time because there’s so much profitability in this industry that 98% of American society don’t even know. And so what I did was building it compliantly as a 28 year old then, an inner city kid that’s looking at it and seeing all the patience needed to do it. I didn’t have the patience. So that’s one of the components to really focus in on.

Quentin Edmonds (14:27)

Man, so well said, man. And you kind of really just walk into my next question because I want to ask you, what is next? Like what’s the next real goal for you? Like what are you looking to solve or scale next? Like what’s next for you, Mash?

Mashiyat Rashid (14:40)

Yeah, another good question. right now I’ve authored a powerful book. I’ve had a two time Emmy Award winning executive producer, I’m sorry, that sort of talked to me. This was recently, and I had given her sort of a a sort of draft of our book. So she read through all of it, she said, This is a generational book, this is a book.

Of like the big short meeting the wolf of Wall Street and the guy actually telling the story, honestly accepting responsibility. she said it’s a unique story. It’s a unique story in that aspect. So, really, what I’m focused in on is storytelling for the healthcare industry, for the next wave of entrepreneurs, and really allowing them to vision how to create something in the healthcare industry. Because those are the biggest questions, and some of the biggest questions I get from real estate guys that want to diversify.

They’re doing great in the healthcare, I mean in the real estate industry, but it’s a little slow. Sometimes it’s a little erratic. Sometimes certain projects are losing money. But one thing with the healthcare, if they have an MSO, it produces. it’s an engine that constantly grows and gives. but the biggest again, disconnect, compliance. So again, I’m just doing that storytelling and letting the American people.

Quentin Edmonds (15:51)

Yes, sir. I love it. So everyone that comes on, I always try to get their unique perspective on the word relationship. And I think I’m gonna love getting your perspective, your unique perspective, right? So how I normally ask it, and I’m not gonna tailor it too much, but I’ll ask it probably the same way I normally do. What is your philosophy on building healthy relationships?

in healthy business relationships, right? Are there any business relationships that you’ve retained that you kind of still kind of lean on? What are the new business relationships that you’re building? Like Mash, what’s your unique perspective on relationship building?

Mashiyat Rashid (16:31)

Absolutely. Now, this is my sort of perspective. Personal relationships and business relationships go hand in hand. If you’re bad in a personal relationship, in my opinion, what I’ve understand, you will be bad in the business relationships. If you’re bad in the business relationships, I can’t foresee you being a great husband or a great father for the duration of that relationship. So they go hand in hand. The objective for me is to be that same person in both.

ecosystem in both atmospheres.

the biggest lesson I’ve learned is being forthcoming and transparent with your loved ones, being forthcoming and transparent with your business partners. Now listen, this is documented. I’m not saying this. The government, the federal government wrote it on my behalf that I built a sprawling network. Now how does someone who’s not a physician, who’s not a medical professional, build a sprawling network of medical professionals?

And that’s how you do it. You build a relationship. Did I do it honestly? Was the initial start process good? Were my intentions pure? Absolutely. did I take the scalability process and start bending the rules? Absolutely. So both things can be true at the same time. What I value most now is being honest, not just personally, but in the business world.

If things aren’t going and operating the way I want it, sharing that with someone rather than disguising it. So

And like I said, my initial healthcare portfolio imploded in twenty seventeen. But when I came out, there was a long laundry list of people that still kept in touch with me that allowed me to transition very quickly back into society because they had my pure intentions in mind. Because even though there was fraud for that decade long, for those 10 years I did a lot of good too. So it’s important to have that mixture. And actually, from my experience, what I just said.

being honest and transparent and forthcoming with the people that you’re with.

Quentin Edmonds (18:19)

Who made you talking my language? Like so you talk about being transparent and honest. So we in my circle, because like you said, there is a confluence, like you cannot separate the business and the personal. Like if you are a business person, you are who you are in every arena that you’re in. And so you gotta be the same person. You gotta be congruent, right? And so I love it. And so in my circle, we talk about being hot, right? Hot, being honest, open, and transparent.

Mashiyat Rashid (18:46)

Wow, I like that

Quentin Edmonds (18:47)

So that’s what we talk about. And because I got a group of accountability brothers, and we live by, I’m gonna be honest with you. I I get this from a scripture in the Bible. It’s James 5:16.

Mashiyat Rashid (18:57)

Beautiful.

Quentin Edmonds (18:57)

It says, confess your faults one to another so that you can be healed. And I think I told you earlier, I believe healing happens in community. Like when I get into a place where I can be hot, open and honest with the people around me.

That healing happens because they will hold me accountable to the authentic, congruent person that I am. And if there’s any incongruency, they’ll call it out like you said you wasn’t gonna do that. That looks mighty different than what you said you wasn’t gonna do. Like that’s

Mashiyat Rashid (19:25)

Exposed, you’re exposed.

Quentin Edmonds (19:29)

right. And so I believe in being transparent and honest, especially with people that I trust, because if I really trust them.

They have my best intentions at heart. Guess what? Even sometimes when I don’t, even sometimes when I veer off and the shiny object or my my passion or my lust or being overzealous, like they will keep me kind of grounded, say, hey, that’s not really how we normally operate. Like, you know what? You’re right. So I love that, man. I absolutely love that, Mash. Thanks. Yeah,

Mashiyat Rashid (19:58)

Thank you.

Quentin Edmonds (19:59)

man. So listen, I’ve asked you lot of questions.

Kind of, I want to make sure that we hit everything. So before I tell people how to get in contact with you, is there any message, any part of your message that you had in your mind that you wanted to make sure the audience got, that you wanted to make sure you land it? I want to make sure that we get it. So is there any other words of education, inspiration, motivation, or anything that you feel like I wanted to make sure I make this point? So let me make sure I make it now. So I just kind of want to open up the floor if there’s anything you want to land.

Mashiyat Rashid (20:31)

Yeah, I think one’s work ethic is a great reflection of their success, And when the work ethic is tainted, which I lived by for some times, which I took advantage of a system. just so people know the healthcare system, why it

bleeds 935 billion a year is because it works in an honor system method. Okay. The pro medical professionals bill out the components. The system pays out immediately. And it’s a transactional belief that what is being billed out is accurate. Now, when there’s some issues, when it comes about, it covers a lot of the things we discussed, a lack of honesty, a lack of transparency, creating this mindset of optimization when really it deals with the

false narrative and lies, And that’s the one thing that I’ve really left with. because in my twenties and thirties, that’s something that I did compromise. But I’m the only one to really own something like that. And I think it was very important for me to own it because that’s what really allowed me to move forward. So I advise anyone, anyone in the business world, you will succeed. But the mindset is it has to go along with it. And the thing my greatest failure was not being

open-ended was not being forthcoming. And that was the great example. So if if there is something I can take out of it, if you are to ever communicate with me, if you’re ever to email me or go to our website, I’m not too hard, I’m not difficult to find, just be forthcoming and transparent, with the intentions of being pure, being an honest builder, being an honest builder in in real estate, being an honest builder in healthcare, whatever it may be. Because the storytelling that I share

with the American people is powerful. So and it’s very important that people in return provide the same honesty that I’ve sort of learned through the roughest and hardest ways possible.

Quentin Edmonds (22:15)

Absolutely. Man, I appreciate you so much, sir. if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you?

Mashiyat Rashid (22:26)

Absolutely. You can email me at Mashiyat M-A-S-H-I-Y-A-T @ Sentinel S-E-N-T-I-N-E-L-MEDIA E D I A .com You can also check out our website. It’s very informational. You know what they say pictures say a thousand words. These are pictures from my past and it tells the story, the rise from the inner city all the way to the climb of

a net worth of a hundred million dollars. And that’s not me saying that. That’s the government’s evidence saying that as a 37-year-old kid that grew up in the inner city. So I want people that do listen to your show, and I know your show has a diverse group of people from the elitists to as people that aspire to be. And really for those people that aspire to be, take it seriously and there is a lot of promise of doing great.

but the mindset has to be right.

Quentin Edmonds (23:18)

Mash man, I’m gonna love saying this to you. I wanna say three things to you sincerely. And so one reiteration, again, sir, thank you for your time. I mean, I think even you understand, probably from your perspective, time is a precious thing. Right? Yeah, so thank you so much for your time. Appreciate you being here. Secondly, thank you for I’m gonna love saying this. Thank you for the gift.

Of your transparency, the gift of your integrity, the gift of your vulnerability. I appreciate you telling your story. I believe when we tell our stories, we scatter seed. We don’t necessarily plant it, but we scatter it. We throw it out there. And at any given time, that seed can be planted. It can take root. And we never know when it’s gonna happen or if it’s gonna happen. but because we told our story, seed has been scattered.

And it can really take root in somebody’s life and literally course correct them. So thank you for coming and casting some seed, man, And lastly, sir, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think. Thank you for the way you process. Thank you for what you’ve endured. Thank you for what you’ve overcame. Thank you for what you have been honest about. Because that mindset, you really have come and shared that mindset with the people. And I really believe, again, that can be life-changing as well. So, man, again, I thank you for coming on, sir.

Mashiyat Rashid (24:34)

Hey, Q I appreciate this. Thank you for having me, man. Great show, man. Keep up the good work.

Quentin Edmonds (24:39)

Absolutely. Appreciate you. So listen, y’all heard my friend. I told y’all it’s gonna be a great story. I keep telling y’all we’re gonna bring up amazing people, and I keep telling you call me out when I’m wrong. So I click Mash Mash has been here. he came up. Please get in contact with him. His information is in the show notes. A click away from getting in contact with him. So go to the show notes, get in contact with him. Definitely make sure you’re subscribed here because I promise you we’re gonna continue to bring up amazing people just like Mash

So, sir, thank you again. And everyone else, listen, y’all have an incredible day.