The pharmacist, 62-year-old Dehshid “David” Nourian, was also sentenced Feb. 21 to 17 years and six months in prison and ordered to pay more than $115 million in restitution. On March 6, the court then ordered Mr. Nourian to forfeit $405 million.
Mr. Nourian and co-conspirators owned and operated three Texan pharmacies in Fort Worth and Arlington, according to a March 10 news release from the Justice Department. Between 2014 and 2017, the pharmacies billed the Department of Labor and Blue Cross Blue Shield more than $145 million for unnecessary compound medications and received about $90 million in exchange for illegal bribes and kickbacks.
“Evidence at trial showed these compounds were being mixed in the back rooms of the pharmacies by untrained teenagers at a cost to the defendants of around $15 per prescription and then billed … for as much as $16,000 per prescription,” the release said.
The patients, who were injured federal workers, testified that the prescription compound creams they received from these pharmacies were ineffective and, in some cases, led to painful rashes.
Mr. Nourian and others attempted to conceal the fraud by laundering money through bank accounts and shell companies, the department said, and evaded paying $24 million in federal income taxes.
In November 2023, a federal jury convicted Mr. Nourian. Nearly a year and a half later, he received his sentencing and the $405 million forfeiture order.
The forfeiture includes $395 million in brokerage accounts, more than $2 million in bank accounts, real estate in Dallas and Austin worth $8 million, and a BMW luxury vehicle, according to the Justice Department.
