Westchester Pharmacy Owner Gets Prison For $11M HIV Medication Scam

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — A scam that preyed on vulnerable patients, and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, will send a Westchester pharmacy owner to prison.

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday announced that former pharmacy owner Aftab Hussain has been sentenced to two to six years in prison for stealing more than $11.5 million dollars through a Medicaid fraud scheme that preyed on low-income HIV patients who needed lifesaving medications.

Hussain and his accomplices paid illegal kickbacks to patients to make sure these patients would use 20 pharmacies they owned across New York City and Westchester County. The pharmacies then filled those prescriptions with unsafe medications illegally purchased from the black market or other pharmacy patients.

Hussain and his associates billed Medicaid a total of over $11.5 million for the illegally obtained drugs over the course of the multi-year scheme. Hussain was the last defendant to be sentenced in an investigation that included the arrest and conviction of five other defendants.

"This predatory scheme stole millions of dollars while denying lifesaving treatment to New Yorkers in need," James said. "Aftab Hussain exploited and endangered vulnerable New Yorkers with HIV, using them to steal taxpayer funds that provide health care to low-income patients, and now he will pay for his fraud. This case should serve as a warning to any crooked pharmacy operator. My office will continue to bring these cases to shut down illegal businesses that put New Yorkers at risk with fraud and dangerous medications."

The sentencing of Hussain puts to bed an investigation and prosecution by the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) that dismantled the scheme.

Hussain owned, operated, or controlled more than 20 pharmacies in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Westchester County at various times over the course of the investigation. He frequently moved his businesses to new locations, according to investigators.

From 2015 to 2019, he and several of his employees and co-conspirators paid or directed others to pay illegal kickbacks to Medicaid recipients diagnosed with HIV to entice those recipients to have their prescriptions for HIV medication filled at the Hussain-controlled pharmacies. These kickbacks were typically between $25 and $100.

Hussain and his co-conspirators would often offer to buy back the HIV medication from the Medicaid recipients for cash at the time of delivery, usually offering $100 to $200 per bottle even though the wholesale price of the medications was usually between $2,000 and $3,000 per bottle.

As a result of these dangerous inducements, many vulnerable patients went without their medication, putting them at severe risk of developing life-threatening complications from HIV, according to the AG.

Hussain and his co-conspirators also purchased large quantities of HIV medications through black market channels, often drugs obtained through other illegal kickbacks, and dispensed those prescription medications to unsuspecting recipients. Hussain and his co-conspirators submitted claims for reimbursement to the Medicaid program as if the medications they were disbursing had been purchased through proper channels.

State law strictly prohibits all medical providers, including pharmacies, from paying, or offering to pay, kickbacks in return for referring medical services paid for by Medicaid. State law also requires pharmacies to purchase all prescription medication inventory from properly licensed wholesale distributors to ensure a legitimate and safe drug supply.

Previously, Hussain’s co-conspirators, including Josmary Cardenas (aka Yasmine Aftab Hussain), Victor Streety, Blanca Vanessa Alvarado, and Felix Lopez all pleaded guilty to related crimes and have been sentenced.

Cardenas pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including health care fraud, grand larceny, scheme to defraud and conspiracy. She was sentenced to five years' probation on January 10.

Streety pleaded guilty to scheme to defraud and criminal diversion of prescription medication and prescriptions. He was sentenced to a six-month jail term and five years' probation on February 6.

Alvarado pleaded guilty to petit larceny and was sentenced to a conditional discharge on June 12.

Lopez pleaded guilty to scheme to defraud, conspiracy and criminal diversion of prescription medication and prescriptions. He was sentenced to five years' probation on April 27.

Four corporations operating as pharmacies owned or controlled by Hussain or his co-conspirators were also charged, including Harlem Super Pharmacy Inc., Health Smart Pharmacy Inc., Broadway RX Enterprises Inc., and E-Green Pharmacy Inc. d/b/a WinHealth Pharmacy. RX Enterprises Inc. and E-Green Pharmacy Inc. both pleaded guilty and were sentenced on October 16. As part of the sentences, the corporations must dissolve.

Hussain was sentenced on Wednesday by Judge Brendan Lantry in New York County Supreme Court on his previously entered guilty plea to the charges of grand larceny in the first degree, grand larceny in the third degree, health care fraud in the first degree, health care fraud in the second degree, scheme to defraud, and conspiracy.

He was also required to conclude a settlement agreement in which he paid $7 million in restitution to the state.