A compound pharmacy owner, three marketers, a referring physician and two clinic office staff got together. Sounds like a networking night but really was a multi-million dollar healthcare fraud operation bust. Rodriguez was the owner of Pharr Family Pharmacy (PFP). Beginning as early as May 2014 through September 2016, PFP billed various federal healthcare programs for more than $110 million in prescription claims that were false, fraudulent, and the result of illegal kickbacks.
Co-conspirators Mohammad Imtiaz Chowdhury, his father Dr. Tajul Shams Chowdhury, and Hector De La Cruz, Jr., were marketers for PFP. Supposedly of a team strategizing to attract and retain customers, they were little more than the conduits for several million dollars in kickbacks relating to the referral of prescriptions to the pharmacy. Rodriguez provided the PFP marketers with pre-filled prescription pads intended to be given to physicians. The prescriptions included compound drugs and other prescription items that would yield the highest possible reimbursement to PFP, without regard to medical necessity.
Rodriguez paid kickbacks to the medical providers who referred prescriptions to his pharmacy. Rodriguez then billed various United States benefit programs for millions of dollars in fraudulent claims. Those benefit programs included the Department of Labor Workers’ Compensation Programs, and the Health and Human Services Medicaid and Medicare Programs.
On May 8, 2025, Rodriguez received a five-year sentence in federal prison. De La Cruz and Flores were sentenced to nearly four years, while Chowdhury received a 2.5-year term.
Shout out to the Texas Health and Human Services-OIG who conducted the investigation.
Today’s Fraud of the Day is based on article “Four Valley men sentenced in multi-million dollar kickback conspiracy” published by Valley Central News on May 8, 2025.
Four Valley residents have been sentenced for their roles in a conspiracy to pay kickbacks in exchange for prescription referrals, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. John Ageudo Rodriguez, 55, Mohammad Imtiaz Chowdhury, 44, and Hector de la Cruz Jr., 54, all of Edinburg, and Alex Flores Jr., 55, of McAllen, were sentenced in the $110 million kickback conspiracy.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Rodriguez conspired with at least eight people, including Chowdhury, De La Cruz, and Flores, to pay kickbacks to medical providers who referred prescriptions to his pharmacy. From 2014 to 2016, his pharmacy submitted more than $110 million in claims to federal health care programs for compound drugs.
