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Doctor Indicted for Orchestrating $45M Botox Fraud Scheme Targeting Medicare

posted 12 days ago
A federal grand jury in California returned a superseding indictment yesterday charging a doctor for allegedly submitting more than $45 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for Botox injections and for obstructing a criminal investigation by allegedly submitting falsified medical records in response to a grand jury subpoena. According to court documents, Violetta Mailyan, 45, of Los Angeles County, owned and operated Healthy Way Medical Center (Healthy Way), which allegedly billed Medicare for Botox injections that were medically unnecessary and never provided, including for injections on dates when Mailyan was traveling internationally, on dates ...

Digital Health Company and Medical Practice Indicted in $100M Adderall Distribution Scheme

posted 13 days ago
The Digital Health Company Was Also Charged with Health Care Fraud and Obstruction Conspiracies A federal grand jury in San Francisco returned an indictment yesterday charging a California company for its participation in a years-long scheme to illegally distribute Adderall over the internet, conspire to commit health care fraud in connection with the submission of false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement for Adderall and other stimulants, and conspire to obstruct justice. A Florida medical practice was also charged in connection with its alleged participation in the scheme to illegally distribute Adderall. “As alleged, Done Global used lies ...

More than $400K worth of fake pharmaceuticals seized at Cincinnati airport

posted 14 days ago
Hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of fake and prohibited pharmaceuticals have been intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Cincinnati. CBP officials say officers working alongside the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seized nearly 400 shipments containing more than 8,500 pairs of undeclared or misdeclared contact lenses. Another 50 shipments included misbranded or illegal FDA-regulated drugs and medical devices, including GLP-1 weight loss medications, Botox, dermal fillers, skincare products, and other prohibited substances and powders. Read Article #Ohio #AdulteratedDrug #DrugSeizure #Counterfeit

DEA Laboratory Testing Identifies New Soft/Pliable Form of Fentanyl

posted 17 days ago
The DEA Laboratory System recently identified a concerning new form of fentanyl that potentially poses a risk to public health and safety. This substance, found in various colors and textures, is soft and pliable, allowing it to be molded and shaped. Laboratory testing reveals that this form contains combinations of fentanyl, fentanyl-related substances, and other adulterants, with purity levels ranging from less than 1% to over 20%. Even at low concentrations, fentanyl is extremely potent and can be lethal. This newly identified form of fentanyl differs from traditional samples, which are typically powders or pills. Its unique texture and appearance may be ...

Missouri Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for $174M Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

posted 18 days ago
On Oct. 23, a Missouri man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for orchestrating a scheme to defraud Medicare by unlawfully billing hundreds of millions of dollars in claims for cancer genetic testing and cardiovascular genetic testing. According to court documents, Jamie P. McNamara, 50, of Kansas City, operated several laboratories in Louisiana and Texas, which obtained doctors’ orders for genetic testing from telemarketers and call centers that used aggressive telemarketing campaigns to induce Medicare beneficiaries to agree to receive genetic testing. Orders for genetic testing were signed by purported telemedicine doctors who were not the beneficiaries’ ...

Pharmacist Sentenced to Over Six Years in Prison for $6M Health Care Fraud Scheme

posted 18 days ago
On October 21, a Michigan pharmacist was sentenced to 80 months in prison for defrauding health care benefit programs by billing for prescription medications that he never dispensed. According to court documents, Isaiah Okoh, 55, of Sterling Heights, billed health care benefit programs for prescription medications that he did not actually dispense to patients at three pharmacies in Michigan. From 2019 through 2022, Okoh and his co-conspirator sent false claims to health care benefit programs for prescription drugs that were not ordered by a doctor and were not dispensed to the patient. Okoh and his co-conspirator used forged prescriptions from doctors to hide ...

Wound Graft Company Owners Sentenced for $1.2B Health Care Fraud and Agree to Pay $309M to Resolve Civil Liability Under the False Claims Act

posted 18 days ago
In the first prosecution of its kind, the owners of several Arizona wound graft companies were sentenced to significant terms of incarceration for causing over $1.2 billion of false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare and other health insurance programs for medically unnecessary wound grafts that were ordered as a result of illegal kickbacks and applied to elderly and terminally ill patients. On Oct.7 Alexandra Gehrke was sentenced to 15.5 years in prison, and on Oct. 10 her husband, Jeffrey King, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. According to court documents, Gehrke, 39, and King, 46, both of Phoenix, orchestrated a large-scale wound-care ...

Doctor Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for $24M Medicare Fraud

posted 18 days ago
On October 23, a New York doctor was sentenced to seven years in prison for causing the submission of over $24 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary laboratory tests and orthotic braces. He was also ordered to pay $2,210,384 in restitution. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Alexander Baldonado, M.D., 69, of Queens, received tens of thousands of dollars in illegal cash kickbacks and bribes in exchange for ordering laboratory tests, including expensive cancer genetic tests, that were billed to Medicare by two laboratories located in New York. As part of the scheme, Baldonado authorized hundreds of cancer ...

Pediatrician pleads guilty to writing prescriptions in exchange for sex, money

posted 18 days ago
A pediatrician in Missouri accused of writing prescriptions in exchange for sex and money has pleaded guilty. Dr. Craig A. Spiegel, who practiced in Bridgeton, admitted to illegally distributing controlled substances, making false statements in court, and conspiracy to distribute drugs. Read Article #Missouri #SexforDrugs #ProviderArrest(s) #RxFraud

Federal Court Permanently Prohibits Tampa-area Pharmacist from Filling Opioids Prescriptions and Pharmacy Dissolved

posted 20 days ago
Monday, a federal court prohibited a Tampa-area pharmacist from filling prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances and entered a civil penalty against him in a case alleging violations of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). In a complaint filed in August 2022, the United States alleges that Nathaniel Esalomi unlawfully distributed powerful opioids by filling prescriptions he knew were not valid at Apexx Pharmacy in Hudson, Florida, where he was the owner and sole pharmacist. The complaint alleges that Esalomi charged dramatically inflated prices to fill opioid prescriptions and accepted thousands of dollars in cash for the drugs. The complaint ...

Pharmacist in Spokane County suspended due to diversion of controlled substances

posted 21 days ago
The Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission suspended the license of Spokane County pharmacist Sandra Lee Symington Bang (PH00021680) pending further legal action. Bang allegedly falsified prescriptions to obtain medications, including controlled substances, for her personal use. The suspension prohibits Bang from practicing as a pharmacist in Washington to protect patient safety and public health. Bang has 20 days to request a hearing to contest the charges. Legal documents related to this case are posted online and can be found via the Provider Credential Search on the Department of Health website . Copies can also be requested by calling 360-236-4700. ...

Florida sheriff calls massive drug operation '"Breaking Bad" on steroids' after record-breaking bust

posted 26 days ago
Maxwell Horvath facing charges after authorities seize weapons, 92,000 pounds of illegal substances Read Full Article and See video #7-OH #EmerginingDrugTrend #Florida #WeaponsInvolved #DrugSeizure

DEA Launches Fentanyl Free America Initiative to Combat the Synthetic Drug Crisis

posted 27 days ago
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is intensifying its fight against the deadly threat of synthetic opioids with the launch of Fentanyl Free America, a comprehensive enforcement initiative and public awareness campaign aimed at reducing both the supply and demand for fentanyl. This effort underscores DEA's unwavering commitment to protecting American lives and communities from the devastating impacts of fentanyl, which claimed nearly 50,000 lives last year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Through intensified enforcement operations and heightened intelligence, DEA is applying unprecedented pressure on the ...

Texas Man Charged with Conspiracy to Obtain Controlled Substances by Fraud

posted 27 days ago
A federal grand jury in the Middle District of Louisiana returned an indictment today charging a Texas man with a scheme to obtain controlled substances from multiple pharmacies using fraudulent prescriptions and then sell those drugs on the street. According to court documents, Darrion Denard Brooks, 28, of Houston, and co-conspirators, used fictitious identification information to obtain fraudulent prescriptions for controlled substances on behalf of patients who either did not exist or for whom medical providers did not authorize the prescriptions. As alleged in the indictment, from November 2023 through March 2025, Brooks and his co-conspirators fraudulently ...

Georgia Man Sentenced for $24M Kickback and Medicare Fraud Conspiracy

posted 28 days ago
A Georgia man was sentenced today to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay over $7.2 million in restitution for his role in a scheme to pay and receive illegal kickbacks in exchange for inducing Medicare beneficiaries to accept medically unnecessary genetic tests. According to court documents, Patrick C. Moore Jr., 48, of Peachtree City, engaged in a kickback scheme in which he instructed a network of recruiters to target and induce Medicare beneficiaries to accept genetic tests that were not medically necessary, not provided as represented or not eligible for reimbursement. Moore received approximately $4.3 million in kickbacks and bribes from his co-conspirators ...

Justice Department Seizes Unlawful 7-OH Opioid Products at Three Warehouses

posted 28 days ago
The Justice Department, together with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced today that recent actions targeting illegal products containing 7-hydroxymitragine, commonly known as 7-OH, resulted in the seizure of approximately 73,000 units of product at three warehouses. In seizure complaints and accompanying court papers filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the government alleged that two firms in the Kansas City area received warnings from FDA that 7-OH products were illegal under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. According to the seizure complaints, recent FDA inspections showed that the firms continued ...

Nurse Practitioner Sentenced to 18 Months and Ordered to Pay over $160,000 in Restitution for Health Care Fraud and Unlawful Drug Distribution

posted 29 days ago
Defendant Also Settled False Claims Act Liability by Separate Payment of $188,850 ALBANY, NEW YORK – Acting United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III announced today that Anja Salamack, age 50, of Delray Beach, Florida, was sentenced in late October to 18 months in prison and a one-year period of home detention for submitting false and fraudulent claims to health care benefit programs and for issuing prescriptions for a controlled substance for non-medical purposes and outside the usual course of profession practice. The charges were part of the Department of Justice’s 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown. Salamack, formerly an Albany resident, ...

Police officer shoots, kills armed man at Walgreens in Maryland Heights

posted 29 days ago
A Maryland Heights police officer shot and killed an armed man inside a local Walgreens store late Sunday afternoon. The shooting happened just after 6 p.m. inside the store, located in the 12500 block of Dorsett Road, according to a statement from the St. Louis County Police Department. Read Full Article #Missouri #PharmacyBurglary/Robbery

Are Dispensers Ready for DSCSA? With Enforcement Approaching, Questions—and Gaps—Remain

posted 11-26-2025
As the Nov. 27 Drug Supply Chain Security Act ( DSCSA ) enforcement date arrives for large dispensers (pharmacies with ≥26 full-time employees), health-system and specialty pharmacy leaders are asking the obvious question: Are we ready? Manufacturers and wholesale distributors reached their enforcement deadlines earlier this year, with manufacturers required to exchange serialized package-level data as of May 27 and distributors following on Aug. 27. In theory, that means dispensers should now be receiving complete DSCSA data for every unit of prescription product entering their facilities. In practice, experts say readiness has improved, but inconsistencies ...

Donald Mackay Churchill Fellowship to learn how Australia as a community can collaborate to reduce the threat of synthetic opioids

posted 11-25-2025
Fentanyl is one of the most potent synthetic opioids in circulation today. As little as 2 milligrams can be enough to cause a fatal overdose. In the United States, synthetic opioids claimed more than 70,000 lives in 2023 alone. Because fentanyl can be synthesised cheaply and efficiently, it is increasingly used to lace illicit and counterfeit prescription drugs, often without the user knowing. This raises a critical question for Australia. In the face of a potential global threat, are we doing enough to protect ourselves? Read Article & Download Report This repot by Detective Lysaght examines what is working internationally to reduce ...