Michigan pharmacist among four sentenced in Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance fraud case

By Paula Wethington

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    DETROIT, Michigan (WWJ) — A Macomb County pharmacist was among four pharmacy owners sentenced in a federal investigation involving over $13 million in losses to Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the sentencings Thursday in a press release about the case.

“The defendants collectively caused over $13 million of loss to Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan,” the press release said.

In this case, pharmacist Ali Abdelrazzaq, of Macomb County, Michigan, was sentenced on Jan. 15 to two years in prison.

The other sentencings were for:

Pharmacist Raef Hamaed, of Maricopa County, Arizona, sentenced Jan. 8 to 10 years in prison. Pharmacist Tarek Fakhuri, of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, sentenced Jan. 13 to seven years in prison. Pharmacist Kindy Ghussin, of Greene County, Ohio, sentenced Feb. 6 to five years and five months in prison.

A federal jury issued convictions Sept. 5 to the four on conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud; along with related charges.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Hamaed, Fakhuri, Ghussin, and Abdelrazzaq billed Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan for prescription medications that they did not dispense at five pharmacies they owned and operated: Eastside Pharmacy, Harper Drugs, and Wayne Campus Pharmacy in Michigan, and Heartland Pharmacy and Heartland Pharmacy 2 in Ohio. Abdelrazzaq was sentenced for his role in the conspiracy at Wayne Campus Pharmacy, according to the report.

The FBI Detroit Field Office and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General investigated the case; working with the justice department’s Fraud Section.

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