'Drug Dealers In White Coats' Indicted By Feds

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Ten medical professionals, including two from Westchester County, have been accused of illegally distributing oxycodone. Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Thursday the unsealing of five indictments and a criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court charging a total of 10 defendants.

"These doctors and other health professionals should have been the first line of defense against opioid abuse, but as alleged in today's charges, instead of caring for their patients, they were drug dealers in white coats," he said.

"They hid behind their medical licenses to sell addictive, dangerous narcotics," Berman said. "This office will do everything in its power to bring to justice anyone responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has taken so many lives."

Mark Klein, 47, of White Plains, was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, which has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and 14 counts of distribution of controlled substances, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Authorities said Klein, a pharmacist in White Plains, filled prescriptions for oxycodone that he knew were illegitimate, including prescriptions filled by a customer in multiple variations of his name and date of birth, and prescriptions filled in the names of people who never were in the pharmacy.

He also made false reports to New York State authorities, in exchange for cash payments and a vacation.

Berman said Klein admitted, in substance, that he and his employees could be called "licensed drug dealers" because "oxy pays the bills" at his pharmacy.

Nadem J. Sayegh, 64, of Yonkers, was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, four counts of distribution of controlled substances, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, one count of health care fraud (10 year max), making false statements (five years max) and aggravated identity theft (two years max to be served consecutive to any other term of imprisonment).

Sayegh, a physician with offices in the Bronx and Westchester, is alleged to have maintained a corrupt relationship with a co-conspirator, issuing oxycodone prescriptions in his name, variations of his name, his family members' names and the names of other people in exchange for thousands of dollars in cash, expensive dinners, high-end whisky, cruises and all-expense-paid trips.

He wrote some of these prescriptions, for which there was no legitimate medical purpose, for people who did not visit his medical office, including a patient who was overseas and another patient who was incarcerated, according to authorities.

The other defendants were Dante A Cubangbang, John F. Cargan, Michael Kellerman and Loren Piquant, who together operated a medical clinic in Queens; Carl Anderson, a Staten Island physician, and Arthur Grande, who allegedly sold the pills on the streets of New York; Anthony Pietropinto, a psychiatrist living in Manhattan, and Nkanga Nkanga, a Staten Island physician.

To see all charges and allegations, go here.

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