Four pharmacy owners have been sentenced for their involvement in a scheme to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan out of more than $13 million.
Raef Hamaad of Maricopa County, Ariz., was sentenced to 10 years in prison; Tarek Fakhuri of Windsor, Ontario, received a seven-year prison sentence; Ali Abdelrazzaq of Macomb County, Mich., was sentenced to two years; and Kindy Ghussin of Greene County, Ohio, was sentenced to five years, according to an Feb. 6 news release from the Justice Department.
The defendants billed Medicare and other insurers for prescription medications that were never dispensed at five pharmacies they operated in Michigan and Ohio, the release said. A federal jury convicted them Sept. 5 of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud.