Health is wealth and wealth is health. And while both are important for living a fulfilling life, not everybody has both. Sometimes people have to choose which one they want, a factor that Aftab Hussain knew and exploited in a Medicaid scheme that stole $11.5 million from U.S. taxpayers while endangering low-income HIV patients who needed life-saving medications. The basis of Hussain’s scheme was that he owned or operated over 20 pharmacies across New York City and Westchester County, NY. And Hussain wanted to direct prescription fulfillment to his pharmacies!
Starting in 2015, Hussain and his associates targeted HIV-positive Medicaid recipients, offering illegal kickbacks of $25 to $100 to fill prescriptions at his pharmacies. Seems like an innocent way to entice new customers to a store. But that was just the beginning of Hussain’s Medicaid scheme. Hussain then would purchase back the prescribed medications from the low-income patients for $100 to $200 per bottle, far below their $2,000 to $3,000 wholesale value. This convinced many patients to give up necessary treatments. Health or money. Not an easy choice for most. Low-income beneficiaries often feel they have no choice but to choose money. Hussain had many choices, yet still chose money.
Some of Hussain’s pharmacies in Westchester County and elsewhere also dispensed large quantities of HIV medications obtained through black market channels. The medications were fraudulently billed to Medicaid as if they had been legally acquired and safely distributed.
On November 25, 2024, Hussain was sentenced to two to six years in prison and ordered to pay $7 million in restitution to the state.
Shout out to the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU). The case resulted in the conviction of five individuals and the closure of several pharmacies. Hussain was the final defendant sentenced in the investigation.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is “Westchester Pharmacies Tied To $11.5M Medicaid Fraud Scheme, Former Owner Gets Prison Time” published by the White Plains Daily Voice on November 25, 2024.
The owner of several pharmacies in Westchester County and New York City has been sentenced to prison for running a multimillion-dollar Medicaid fraud scheme that endangered vulnerable HIV patients, officials said.
Aftab Hussain was sentenced to two to six years in prison for stealing over $11.5 million through a scheme involving illegal kickbacks and black market medications, the Attorney General’s Office announced on Wednesday, Nov. 20.