A Grosse Pointe Woods doctor who built his business on treating homebound Medicare patients is now facing a far less comfortable setting: federal sentencing. Yesterday, a Detroit federal jury convicted 50-year-old physician Peter Nwoke on tax charges tied to income that prosecutors say he earned by selling prescription opioids and hiding the profits through nominee companies. Jurors heard that some of the prescriptions he wrote later wound up on the street market. Nwoke is scheduled to be sentenced on September 10.
What prosecutors said
According to prosecutors, Nwoke ran two medical practices, Divine Medical Care and Divine Medical Services, and drew additional income from City Medical and Divine Medical Center, entities they say he stashed in other people’s names while keeping control of the money. They alleged he charged as much as $500 per prescription for high-dose oxycodone and spread some of that cash across roughly 20 bank accounts to conceal the income, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Michigan.
How big the scheme was
Evidence at trial showed Nwoke wrote prescriptions for more than 2.8 million dosage units of controlled substances and deposited over $1.4 million from those transactions. Trial records also showed he underreported more than $2 million in taxable income for 2011 through 2013 and underpaid at least $725,000 in taxes, reporting just $29,424 when records indicate he should have owed $849,088, as reported by ClickOnDetroit.
Court history and related counts
The trial, which began April 7, was overseen by U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood and followed a 2022 proceeding on the same tax counts that ended in a mistrial. Separate perjury and false-statement counts tied to Nwoke’s testimony in that earlier case were split off and remain pending, according to GovInfo.
Investigation and next steps
The investigation was led by IRS Criminal Investigation with help from several federal partners, and prosecutors say Nwoke’s sentence will be set after the court reviews the federal sentencing guidelines. During the trial, jurors heard testimony that after a co-conspirator was raided, Nwoke allegedly told him, “They'll never get me, because I keep my paperwork together,” and he now faces sentencing on September 10, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Michigan.
Why it matters locally
Detroit-area federal and local authorities have repeatedly zeroed in on pill mills and shady prescribers as they try to choke off street-level diversion and protect Medicare beneficiaries. Cases like Nwoke’s highlight how investigators are increasingly pairing health care fraud tools with tax enforcement to follow the money, per FBI Detroit.
