A Windsor pharmacist has been sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in a conspiracy to commit healthcare and wire fraud in the U.S.
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Tarek Fakhuri was sentenced late last year and was one of four pharmacists who billed Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan for prescription medications they did not dispense. The final pharmacist involved was sentenced on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
The crime involved three pharmacies in Michigan and two in Ohio, the DOJ said in a news release. Collectively, the defendants caused more than $13 million in losses to Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Pharmacist Raef Hamaed of Maricopa County, Arizona, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, pharmacist Ali Abdelrazzaq of Macomb County, Michigan, was sentenced to two years in prison, and pharmacist Kindy Ghussin of Greene County, Ohio, was sentenced to five years and five months in prison.
On Sept. 5, the DOJ said, a federal jury convicted Fakhui, Hamaed, Ghussin and Abdelrazzaq of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud. The jury also convicted Fakhuri of one count of health care fraud.
Hamaed was sentenced for his role in the conspiracy at all five pharmacies, while Fakhuri was sentenced for his role in the conspiracy at four of them. Ghussin’s sentence related to three pharmacies, and Abdelrazzaq’s sentence related to one.
The FBI Detroit Field Office and Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.