California pharmacist sentenced for Medicare fraud
The owner of a Los Angeles pharmacy was recently sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges he participated in a fraud scheme involving the Medicare Part D prescription drug program.
The owner of a Los Angeles pharmacy was recently sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges he participated in a fraud scheme involving the Medicare Part D prescription drug program.
U.S. District Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson also ordered Rouzbeh Javaherian, 35, of Beverly Grove, California, to pay $644,060 in restitution to Medicare.
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Javaherian, a licensed pharmacist, owned Westaid Pharmacy and Medical Supply in Los Angeles.
Between January 2008 and November 2014, Javaherian “devised and executed a scheme to defraud the Medicare Part D program by paying illegal cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries to induce them to submit their prescriptions to Westaid,” according to the plea agreement.
Javaherian filled some of those prescriptions. But prosecutors alleged Javaherian also submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare Part D plan sponsors for prescriptions that he did not fill. As a result, Javaherian received approximately $644,060 in overpayments from Medicare.
The FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California investigated jointly worked the case. Since 2007, Medicare fraud investigators have charged more than 2,300 defendants.
