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Pharmacy Owner and Accountant Indicted in $134m Health Care Fraud Scheme
Mohamed Mokbel and Fathy Elsafty, of Houston, Texas, were arrested on charges of money laundering, health care fraud, and conspiracy to commit health care fraud for their participation in an alleged pharmacy fraud scheme.
Mokbel served as CEO of 4M Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the parent company of several retail pharmacies that operated in Texas and Florida, and Elsafty was 4M Pharmaceutical’s accountant and tax preparer. Both individuals had ownership interests in the retail pharmacies.
According to the indictment, 4M Pharmaceutical employees operated as call center employees to solicit Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance patients nationwide by offering patients medically unnecessary diabetic supplies and topical creams. Even though many patients rebuffed the solicitation attempts, 4M Pharmaceuticals and its subsidiaries allegedly billed the patient’s insurance plan anyway, including one instance where 4M Pharmaceuticals billed for prescriptions dispensed after a patient’s death. 4M Pharmaceuticals also allegedly sent fax requests for prescriptions that patients did not authorize and sent prescription requests to doctors for deceased patients.