$8M Pharmacy Fraud Scheme Leads To Multiple Prison Sentences

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The final defendants in a health care fraud schemed involving two pharmacies, one in Fairfax and the other in Falls Church, were sentence in federal court on Friday, according to a U.S. Department of Justice release. The criminal operation, which involved kickbacks and fraudulent billings, led to nearly $8 million in losses for health care benefit programs, such as Medicare and TRICARE, the Defense Department's employee health care program.

Mohamed Abdalla, 48, of Allendale, New Jersey, owned both Medex Health Pharmacy in Falls Church and Royal Care Pharmacy in Fairfax, as well as others across Northern Virginia. He was convicted of overseeing and executing two schemes to defraud health care benefit programs, according to court documents. In one of the schemes, he received a payment or unlawful kickbacks for expensive drugs and devices, which violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. He also billed health care benefit programs for expensive drugs and devices that were not prescribed by a physician, not medically necessary, or received by the beneficiary, court documents said.

“Health insurance programs, and the American public, rely on pharmacy professionals to safeguard the system from harmful kickback schemes, and to make truthful representations about the services they provide,” said Raj Parekh, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, in a release. “The defendants betrayed their duties as health care professionals, performed illegal kickbacks, and defrauded essential benefit programs out of millions of dollars. EDVA is committed to prosecuting those who exploit taxpayers and engage in the unacceptable fleecing of these important public institutions and programs.”

Abdalla took part in several schemes from at least January 2014 through the end of 2018, in order to pay kickbacks for referral of prescriptions and a naloxone auto-injector device, which is used treat opioid emergencies, according to court documents. He and his conspirators then billed federal health care benefit programs, including Medicare and TRICARE. Through these schemes, Abdalla took in more than $2 million. Abdalla and employees at his pharmacies also defrauded federal, state, and private health care benefit programs, resulting in losses of approximately $6,216,434.39 for this programs, according to the DOJ release.

For his role in these conspiracies, Abdalla was sentenced on March 19 to four years in prison, according to the release.

Five other defendants pleaded guilty and were also sentenced, according to the release:

• Onkur Lal, 30, of Alexandria, was sentenced to three years in prison on March 5, for participating in numerous health care fraud schemes.
• Mohammed Tariq Amin, 35, of Fairfax, conspired with Abdalla to pay kickbacks for the referral of prescriptions and expensive medical equipment, as well as numerous other schemes. He was sentenced Friday to two years in prison.
• Daniel Tyler Walker, 51, of Lewes, Delaware, worked for a pharmaceutical company and accepted kickbacks from Abdall and Amin, for referrals of prescriptions and for the naloxone auto-injector device. He was sentenced Friday to 15 months in prison.
• Seth Michael Myers, 53, of Crystal Lake, Illinois. conspired with Abdalla, a licensed physician, and others to accept kickbacks or referrals of compound medications. A company that Myers created with a licensed physician received more than $2.5 million during the scheme. Myers received a two-year prison sentence on March 19.
• Michael Beatty, 53, of Finksburg, Maryland, was a licensed pharmacist in Fallston, Maryland. He conspired with Myers and a licensed physician to pay kickbacks for the referral of expensive compound medications. He was sentenced on March 5, to serve one year and one day in prison.