Nine drug specialists were charged in three separate arraignments unlocked a week ago for their supposed investment in a $12.1 million social insurance extortion conspire executed in Detroit and southern Ohio.
Partner Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Lawyer Matthew Schneider of the Eastern District of Michigan, Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Branch of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Chicago Region and Special Agent in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office made the declaration.
Auday Maki, 66, of Northville, Michigan, was accused of three tallies of social insurance extortion. Hassan Abdallah, 49, of Sterling Heights, Michigan; Raef Hamaed, 50, of Scottsdale, Arizona; Tarek Fakhuri, 47, of Windsor, Canada; Kindy Ghussin, 45, of Greene County, Ohio; Balhar Singh, 57, of Butler County, Ohio; and Ali Abdelrazzaq, 44, of Sterling Heights, Michigan were each accused of one tally of trick to submit medicinal services extortion and wire misrepresentation. Likewise, Abdallah and Abdelrazzaq were each accused of three checks of social insurance extortion and Fakhuri with two tallies of medicinal services misrepresentation. At long last, Hassan Khreizat, 40, of Dearborn Heights, Michigan; and Nofal Cholag, 41, of Macomb, Michigan were each accused of one check of trick to submit medicinal services extortion and wire misrepresentation and four tallies of social insurance extortion.
The three prosecutions were recorded in the Eastern District of Michigan. Maki, Hamaed, Ghussin, Singh, Abdelrazzaq, Cholag, and Khreizat showed up Tuesday before U.S. Officer Judge Anthony P. Patti in the Eastern District of Michigan. Abdallah showed up today in the Eastern District of Michigan under the steady gaze of Judge Patti.
The nine respondents are authorized drug specialists as well as proprietors of drug stores in Michigan and Ohio: Eastside Pharmacy Inc. (Eastside), Harper Drugs Inc. (Harper Drugs), Wayne Campus Pharmacy LLC (Wayne Campus), Universal Pharmacy LLC (Universal) and City Drugs Pharmacy Inc. (City Drugs), each situated in the Detroit metro zone, and Heartland Pharmacy LLC (Heartland) and Heartland Pharmacy 2 LLC (Heartland 2), which are situated in Ohio.
The prosecutions assert that, utilizing the drug stores, the litigants charged Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) for doctor prescribed prescriptions that were neither bought nor apportioned. The arraignments further charge that the respondents charged Medicare and Medicaid for drugs that were regularly therapeutically pointless and for certain prescriptions that were purportedly administered to perished recipients after their dates of death.
The prosecutions assert that the litigants got over $12.1 million because of fake cases they submitted to Medicare, Medicaid, and BCBS. Specifically, the arraignments affirm that, from 2010 to 2019, Medicare and Medicaid paid Abdallah, Hamaed, Fakhuri, Ghussin, Singh, and Abdelrazzaq, through Eastside, Harper Drugs, Heartland, Heartland 2, and Wayne Campus, around $6.9 million for drugs that the drug stores didn’t have adequate stock to apportion.
From January 2013 to January 2016, Medicare, Medicaid, and BCBS supposedly paid Cholag and Khreizat, through Universal, roughly $1.5 million for drugs that the drug store didn’t have adequate stock to administer. From January 2011 to February 2018, Medicare and Medicaid purportedly paid Maki, through City Drugs, roughly $3.7 million for drugs that the drug store didn’t have adequate stock to apportion. The prosecutions further affirm that the litigants got noteworthy assets from their support in these plans.
A prosecution is simply a claim and all respondents are assumed blameless until demonstrated blameworthy past a sensible uncertainty in a courtroom.
The FBI and HHS-OIG examined this case with help from the Michigan HHS-OIG. Preliminary Attorney Howard Locker of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section explored the case, and Trial Attorney Claire Sobczak is arraigning the case.
The Fraud Section drives the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Since its initiation in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which keeps up 15 strike powers working in 24 areas, has charged in excess of 4,200 respondents who have by and large charged the Medicare program for about $19 billion. What’s more, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working related to the HHS-OIG, are finding a way to expand responsibility and abatement the nearness of fake suppliers.
