New York City Pharmacy Owner Pleads Guilty To Committing $8.5 Million Fraud On Medicare And Medicaid

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that SAJID JAVED, an owner and operator of nine different pharmacies in the New York City area, pled guilty today to participating in a health care fraud scheme that used his pharmacies to submit more than $8.5 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid.  JAVED was arrested in 2016 as part of an unprecedented nationwide sweep led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, resulting in criminal and civil charges against more than 300 individuals for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $900 million in false billings.  JAVED pled guilty in Manhattan federal court today before the Honorable Vernon S. Broderick.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “As he admitted in court today, Sajid Javed fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid more than $8.5 million for drugs that were never actually dispensed.  He did this by inducing others to forego their prescription medications for kickbacks.  This scheme not only put patients at risk, it also contributed to the multibillion-dollar theft of federally funded public health care subsidies.”

According to the Complaint and the Superseding Information filed in Manhattan federal court, and statements made in connection with JAVED’s guilty plea:

While owning and operating nine different pharmacies in Brooklyn and Queens, JAVED perpetrated a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid programs by seeking reimbursement for prescription drugs that were never distributed to customers.  From January 2013 through July 2015, JAVED obtained more than $8.5 million in reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid for prescription drugs that his pharmacies never actually dispensed to customers.  JAVED tricked Medicare and Medicaid into paying these reimbursements by obtaining prescriptions from individuals who were willing to forego delivery of the medications in exchange for a share of the reimbursements.  JAVED offered to pay, and in fact paid, such kickbacks in furtherance of the unlawful scheme.          

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JAVED, 47, of Fresh Meadows, Queens, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.  The maximum potential sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

JAVED is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Broderick on August 24, 2018, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. Berman praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General.

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.  Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher J. DiMase and Sarah E. Paul are in charge of the prosecution.