The owner of two Long Island-based transportation companies pleaded guilty Wednesday to his role as the ringleader of a $20 million fraud scheme that involved billing Medicaid for nonexistent ambulette rides to medical appointments for people who were deceased, hospitalized or incarcerated, federal prosecutors said.

Adnan "Eddie" Arshad, 46, of Mount Sinai, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with a scheme to steal $20 million from Medicaid, prosecutors said in a news release Wednesday.

Prosecutors said he used the proceeds from the scheme to buy multimillion dollar homes, and luxury vehicles such as Mercedes, Ferrari and BMW.

"The defendant was the leader of a massive fraud scheme in which he and his coconspirators bilked Medicaid out of millions of dollars of government and taxpayer funds intended to help the needy and infirm," U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. said in a statement. "With his guilty plea today, the defendant admitted that he abused our health care system for his own enrichment. Arshad lived large on his illicit profits — buying expensive homes and driving luxury vehicles — but today’s guilty plea demonstrates there is a steep price for his fraudulent scheme."

Arshad, the owner of MTK Taxi LLC in Montauk and part owner of All-Star Taxi LLC, in Ronkonkoma, and seven employees, were charged in connection with the scheme last June.

His lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Prosecutors said then that it was part of a nationwide effort to crack down on Medicaid and Medicare fraud. 

Prosecutors have alleged that Arshad and the other defendants instructed Medicaid recipients to order medical transportation services to addiction treatment center for methadone treatment, but often would not provide the service. Arshad and his co-defendants paid kickbacks to the Medicaid recipients, prosecutors said. In at least two instances, prosecutors said, claims were submitted to Medicaid for people who were dead.

The scheme also included Arshad and his co-defendants inflating its Medicaid billing, by instructing the recipients to order rides to rehab centers in New York City, bypassing available centers on Long Island, in order to get higher reimbursement rates for the longer rides.

Arshad faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing, restitution of at least $16 million, and forfeiture in the amount of more than $19 million, including several properties and vehicles.