Owner and operator of Atlas Specialty Pharmacy ordered to
pay over $3.7 million in restitution
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A Las Vegas pharmacist was sentenced
Monday by U.S. District Judge Richard F. Boulware II, to 14 months in prison
and three years of supervised release for conspiring with others to commit
health care fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Dayle Elieson for the District of Nevada.
As part of his sentence, he was ordered to pay $3,749,121 in restitution.
Nelson M. Mukuna, 41, previously pleaded guilty to
conspiracy to commit health care fraud and structuring transactions to evade
reporting requirements. He was the owner and operator of Atlas Specialty
Pharmacy which concentrated in specialty drugs.
The conspiracy was in place between July 2016 to December
2017. It started when Mukuna became friends with Robert Harvey, who in turn
introduced him to co-conspirator Alejandro Incera, an Advanced Practice
Registered Nurse. In November 2016, Mukuna and Incera conspired and agreed that
Mukuna would provide Incera with Xeomin, a form of Botox injection, in exchange
for Incera’s patient referrals to Atlas Pharmacy for their prescriptions. As
their business relationship developed, Incera referred more patients to Atlas.
By January 2017, Mukuna started paying Incera $100 cash for each patient
referral. Soon after, Mukuna approached other providers and offered cash for
their patient referrals. In November 2016, Incera introduced Mukuna to
co-conspirator Leslie Kalyn who started engaging in the same kickback referral
scheme. In January 2017, Mukuna agreed to pay his co-conspirators $200 per
patient referral. The approximate kickback payments totaled $175,000.
In an effort to conceal the kickback scheme, Mukuna
structured cash withdrawals from his business bank account in order to avoid a
Currency Transaction Report from being generated. Domestic financial
institutions, like banks, are required to file transaction reports for cash
transactions exceeding $10,000 in a single day.
As a result of this prosecution, Atlas Pharmacy has closed
and Mukuna has surrendered his pharmacy and DEA licenses.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Office of
Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the
Nevada Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Assistant U.S.
Attorney Kilby Macfadden prosecuted the case.
The Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit is a program that
utilizes data to help combat the devastating opioid crisis. The District of
Nevada was selected as one of 12 districts nationally to participate in the
pilot program. The District of Nevada has assigned an experienced prosecutor
that focuses solely on investigating and prosecuting health care fraud related
to medical professionals who prescribe opioids, that unlawfully divert of
dispense prescription opioids for illegitimate purposes.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment