Two Pharmacy Owners and a Doctor Convicted of $145 Million Fraud

The US Department of Justice announced the conviction of 3 Texas men for health care fraud and other crimes following a trial by a federal jury. The 3 were charged with scamming federal insurance programs by prescribing and dispensing overpriced and medically unnecessary compounded creams to federal workers.

Court documents and evidence at the trial showed that Dehshid “David” Nourian (a pharmacist) and Christopher Rydberg owned and/or operated 3 pharmacies in Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas. They paid co-defendant Dr Michael Taba to prescribe expensive compounded medications to be filled by the pharmacies.

Between May 2014 and March 2017, the pharmacies billed the Labor Department’s worker’s compensation programs and Blue Cross Blue Shield more than $145 million, and they were paid more than $90 million for the medically unnecessary medications referred by Dr Taba and other doctors in exchange for kickbacks and bribes. Additionally, the 2 pharmacy owners attempted to hide their unlawful proceeds by not paying taxes.

The 3 defendants were convicted of health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and the pharmacy owners were additionally convicted of conspiracy to launder money, money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The defendants are due to be sentenced in April 2024, but are facing considerable jail time. Each count of health care fraud carries a maximum penalty of a decade in prison. Each count of money laundering carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and conspiracy to defraud the United States carries a maximum penalty of 5 years. Nourian, the pharmacist, is facing the most time, but all three will be headed to prison this year.

Reference

Pharmacy owners and doctor convicted for $145M health care fraud, money laundering, tax evasion scheme. News release. US Department of Justice. Published November 17, 2023. Accessed February 26, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/pharmacy-owners-and-doctor-convicted-145m-health-care-fraud-money-laundering-and-tax-evasion