CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence a Chesapeake obstetrician-gynecologist to 50 years in prison after he was convicted of performing unnecessary surgeries and procedures on unsuspecting women.

He’s expected to be sentenced on Tuesday, May 18.

A federal jury convicted Dr. Javaid Perwaiz of 51 counts of health care fraud and making false statements related to health care matters in November 2020.

The conviction was handed down after dozens of witnesses testified against Perwaiz over the course of about five weeks. Those witnesses told the jury that the OB-GYN used fake diagnoses and the threat of cancer to coerce women into getting unnecessary and life-altering procedures and surgeries.

Perwaiz filed fraudulent insurance claims for those surgeries and procedures, netting more than $2 million off the scheme between 2010 and 2019. In the pursuit of profit, the OB-GYN cost insurance companies more than $20 million in payouts for surgeries and procedures that weren’t medically necessary, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Virginia.

Perwaiz is scheduled for sentencing on May 18. He faces up to 475 years in prison for his crimes, but prosecutors aren’t asking a judge to impose that much time. Instead, they’ve asked a federal judge to sentence Perwaiz to 50 years in prison. They believe that sentence would be fair and would send a clear message to other healthcare providers in Virginia: That they will be held accountable for violating the law — and patients’ trust.

Perwaiz’ defense attorneys told a federal judge that the OB-GYN maintains his innocence and believes that the convictions are “factually and legally unsubstantiated.” Prosecutors said that Perwaiz is refusing to accept responsibility, even going so far as to place blame for his conviction on patients and call those filing federal lawsuits against him “vultures,” court records show.

10 On Your Side investigators spent more than a year digging into the criminal doctor’s 40-year career in Hampton Roads. We interviewed nearly two dozen former patients and coworkers who detailed red flags that popped up throughout the decades before Perwaiz was arrested.

Our exclusive 10-part investigation, “The Patients v. Perwaiz,” can be found here.