Four pharmacy owners were convicted by a federal jury for their involvement in a health care fraud conspiracy that caused over $13 million in losses to Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The defendants, Raef Hamaed from Arizona, Kindy Ghussin from Ohio, Ali Abdelrazzaq from Michigan, and Tarek Fakhuri from Canada, all licensed pharmacists, billed for prescription medications that were never actually dispensed at their pharmacies. The fraud occurred in Michigan and Ohio, where they submitted false claims for medications they did not provide.
Hamaed, Ghussin, Abdelrazzaq, and Fakhuri were all convicted of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud. In addition to the conspiracy conviction, Abdelrazzaq faced two counts of health care fraud, while Fakhuri was convicted on one count. The maximum penalty for the conspiracy charge is 20 years in prison, and Abdelrazzaq and Fakhuri could each face up to 10 years for their additional fraud counts.
The investigation into the fraudulent activity was conducted by the FBI Detroit Field Office and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). These agencies worked together to uncover the extent of the fraud and bring the perpetrators to justice. The case is part of the broader efforts to combat health care fraud across the U.S., with the Fraud Section leading initiatives to hold providers accountable for such schemes.
The case highlights the ongoing efforts of the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, which has charged thousands of defendants involved in fraudulent billing to federal health care programs. Since its inception in 2007, the program has recovered billions of dollars for Medicare and Medicaid and continues to target health care fraud on a national scale. The sentencing hearings for the four convicted pharmacy owners are set to take place at a later date.
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