A Michigan pharmacist is headed to the big house for almost four years after being convicted for a health care fraud scheme that cost Medicare a cool $4 million. Nabil Fakih, a 50-year-old from Wayne County, was sentenced to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay the same amount in restitution. Additionally, Fakih must forfeit four real estate properties and $726,364.96 in cash.
Fakih, who owned and operated a pharmacy in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, was indicted for billing Medicare for prescription drugs he never actually dispensed. This fraud, according to court documents, occurred from around 2011 to 2017. The medications in question, which included blood thinners and inhalers for lung diseases, were high-reimbursing but suspiciously absent from the pharmacy's inventory. It was revealed that Fakih manipulated inventory purchases, and the proceeds from this deception were diverted for his personal use.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and was prosecuted by Andres Q. Almendarez of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The Justice Department's announcement detailed Fakih's August 2024 guilty plea to one count of health care fraud before a federal judge in the Eastern District of Michigan.
The case comes amidst broader efforts by the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program to nail down individuals and schemes defrauding health care programs. Since its inception in March 2007, the program, which now boasts 9 strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged over 5,800 defendants. These fraudsters have racked up more than $30 billion in bogus billings to federal health care programs and private insurers. In conjunction with HHS-OIG, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is also taking a swat at providers tangled in healthcare fraud schemes.
