A federal jury convicted four pharmacy owners yesterday for conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Raef Hamaed of Maricopa County, Arizona; Kindy Ghussin of Greene County, Ohio; Ali Abdelrazzaq of Macomb County, Michigan; and Tarek Fakhuri of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, all licensed pharmacists, billed Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan for prescription medications that they did not dispense at pharmacies they owned in Michigan and Ohio. The defendants collectively caused over $13 million in losses to Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Hamaed, Ghussin, Abdelrazzaq, and Fakhuri were convicted of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud. Abdelrazzaq was also convicted of two counts of health care fraud while Fakhuri was convicted of one count of health care fraud. Sentencing hearings will be set at a later date.
Hamaed, Ghussin, Abdelrazzaq, and Fakhuri face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the conspiracy count. Additionally, Abdelrazzaq and Fakhuri face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each health care fraud count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Cheyvoryea Gibson of the FBI Detroit Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Mario Pinto of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.
The FBI Detroit Field Office and HHS-OIG investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Claire Sobczak, Kelly M. Warner, and S. Babu Kaza from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program has charged more than 5,400 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $27 billion across nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts. In addition to these efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services working with HHS-OIG aim to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.