A New York City pharmacist has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. Sajid Javed owned and operated numerous pharmacies which were used to submit more than $7.1 million in fraudulent claims to Medicaid and Medicare.
Javed illegally billed Medicaid and Medicare programs for more than $7 million in prescriptions that were never dispensed to patients. (Fraudsters always think they will be able to get away with not doing their jobs.) His Brooklyn- and Queens-based pharmacies were the front for this multimillion-dollar fraudulent billing scheme.
From January 2013 to December 2014, Javed submitted hundreds of claims to Medicare and Medicaid for prescription drugs that his pharmacies did not fill or dispense to its customers. While this healthcare fraud scheme only lasted a few years, Javed was able to receive millions of dollars in reimbursements. (Becoming a millionaire in a few short years would have been an admirable trait if he had earned his fortune legally.)
Javed obtained prescriptions by paying Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries for legitimate scripts. (Looks like they didn’t really need medicine after all.) Javed filed reimbursement claims for the prescriptions despite never filling them. The fraudulent claims allowed Javed to collect millions of dollars from the government healthcare programs that he was entitled to receive. (The only thing Javed is entitled to at this point is an orange jumpsuit and a few years in prison.)
The individuals Javed paid for the prescriptions agreed to not have their prescription filled in exchange for monetary kickback payments. The kickbacks he provided individuals were paid using proceeds from the fraudulent reimbursements he received from Medicare and Medicaid. (That’s why they call it a fraud ring. Oh, the irony of it all.)
Javed was sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release for conspiracy to committ health care fraud. He was also ordered to pay $6,040,451.32 to Medicare and $1,150,562.16 to Medicaid. An additional forfeiture was imposed in the amount of $7,191,013.48.
Today’s Fraud of the Day comes from a Department of Justice press release, “New York City Pharmacy Owner Sentenced To 2½ Years In Prison For Committing Multimillion-Dollar Health Care Fraud,” dated October 23, 2020.
Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that SAJID JAVED, an owner and operator of a number of pharmacies in the New York City area, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for using his pharmacies to submit more than $7.1 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid. JAVED previously pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, who imposed today’s sentence.
Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “Sajid Javed fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid more than $7 million for drugs that were never actually dispensed, inducing others to forego their prescription medications in return for kickbacks. Javed contributed to the multibillion-dollar theft of federally funded public health care subsidies.”
