Westchester Pharmacy Owner Gets Jail For $11M Of HIV Drugs

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY – A scam that preyed on vulnerable patients, and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, will send the owner of a Westchester pharmacy to prison.

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday announced that former chemist owner Aftab Hussain has been sentenced to two to six years in prison for stealing more than $11.5 million in a fraud scheme. Medicaid that holds low-income HIV patients who need life-saving drugs.

Hussain and his associates paid illegal patients to ensure that these patients would use the 20 pharmacies they owned throughout New York City and Westchester County. Pharmacies then filled those prescriptions with unsafe drugs purchased legally on the black market or from other pharmacy patients.

Hussain and his colleagues billed Medicaid a total of $11.5 million for illegally obtained drugs during the multi-year scheme. Hussain was the last accused to be convicted in the investigation which included the arrest and conviction of five other accused.

“This predatory plan has stolen millions of dollars while denying life-saving treatment to New Yorkers in need,” James said. “Aftab Hussain exploited and endangered vulnerable New Yorkers living with HIV, using them to steal taxpayer dollars that provide health care to low-income patients, and he will now pay for his fraud. This case should serve as a warning to any crooked pharmacy provider. My office will continue to bring these cases to shut down illegal businesses that put New Yorkers at risk of theft and medicine it’s dangerous.”

Hussain’s sentence puts to bed an investigation and prosecution by the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) Medicaid Control Unit (MFCU) that disbanded the scheme.

Hussain owned, operated, or managed more than 20 pharmacies in Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchester County at various times during the investigation. He often moved his businesses to new locations, according to investigators.

From 2015 to 2019, he and several of his associates and associates paid or directed others to pay illegal sums to Medicaid recipients who were found to have and HIV to entice those recipients to have their HIV medication prescriptions filled at pharmacies managed by Hussain. These amounts were usually between $25 and $100.

Hussain and his colleagues often volunteered to buy HIV drugs from Medicaid recipients for money during deliveries, often offering $100 to $200 per bottle even though the price of the drugs was often between $2,000 and $3,000 per bottle. .

Because of these dangerous influences, many vulnerable patients went without their medication, putting them at greater risk of developing dangerous complications caused by HIV, according to the AG.

Hussain and his colleagues also bought large quantities of HIV drugs through black market channels, often drugs obtained through other illicit drugs, and distributed them to unsuspecting people. that. Hussain and his colleagues submitted claims for reimbursement to the Medicaid program as if the drugs they were dispensing were purchased through legitimate channels.

State law strictly prohibits all medical providers, including pharmacies, from paying, or offering to pay, kickbacks for referring medical services covered by Medicaid. State law also requires pharmacies to purchase all medical supplies from properly licensed vendors to ensure the proper and safe supply of drugs.

Earlier, Hussain’s associates, including Josmary Cardenas (aka Yasmine Aftab Hussain), Victor Streety, Blanca Vanessa Alvarado, and Felix Lopez all pleaded guilty to related crimes and were convicted.

Cardenas pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including health care fraud, grand larceny, conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy. On January 10, he was sentenced to five years in prison.

Streety pleaded guilty to forgery and felony diversion of prescriptions and medications. He was sentenced to six months and five years in prison on February 6.

Alvarado pleaded guilty to petit larceny and was sentenced to parole on June 12.

Lopez pleaded guilty to forgery, conspiracy and misappropriation of prescription drugs and prescriptions. On April 27, he was sentenced to five years in prison.

Four entities operating as pharmacies owned or controlled by Hussain or his associates were also indicted, including Harlem Super Pharmacy Inc., Health Smart Pharmacy Inc., Broadway RX Enterprises Inc., and E-Green Pharmacy Inc. d/b/a WinHealth Pharmacy. RX Enterprises Inc. and E-Green Pharmacy Inc. both pleaded guilty and were sentenced on October 16. As part of the sentences, the entities must be dissolved.

Hussain was sentenced Wednesday by Judge Brendan Lantry in New York State Supreme Court on his previous guilty plea to charges of first-degree grand larceny, third-degree grand larceny, health care fraud in the first degree, health care fraud. in the second place, to conspire, and to conspire.

He was also required to complete a settlement agreement in which he paid $7 million in restitution to the state.