Crime Watch

Merokean charged in ‘massive’ Medicare/insurance fraud

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A pharmacist from Merrick, a doctor and an accountant are charged in a “massive” fraud dating back to 2012 that involved fake prescriptions for the pain medication oxycodone, according to court filings and officials.

In all, the two pharmacies allegedly tangled up in the scheme received $3 million in Medicare and private insurance payments. At press time, it was uncertain how many of them might have been based on false claims.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Nov. 5, Dr. Mohammad Hadi, 31, wrote patients legitimate prescriptions for pain medications, known as “A scripts,” while at work at Hadi Medical Group, which has an office in Long Beach, among other locations. At the same time, Hadi would, with or without patients’ knowledge, write a second set of “unnecessary” prescriptions, known as “B scripts.”

He would then “steer” patients to Sal’s Pharmacy in Levittown, previously known as Levenson’s Pharmacy, and Harry’s Pharmacy in Hicksville, which were run by Salman Siddiqui, 30, of Merrick. Hadi and Siddiqui conspired to fill the fake prescriptions, according to the complaint.

The pharmacies dispensed the A scripts, but “not the majority” of the B scripts. The pharmacies then billed Medicare and various private insurers for both, the complaint states.

Accountant Rizwan Ahmed, 30, of New Hyde Park, joined in the scheme, allegedly helping Hadi and Siddiqui to produce false inventory invoices to cover up the fraud, according to the complaint.

The FBI investigated the case with assistance by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, and Nassau County police. A confidential FBI informant with “intimate knowledge” of the alleged fraud revealed the scheme to authorities, the complaint states. The informant was arrested earlier this year and charged with distribution of oxycodone.

It’s not entirely clear what the connection between the informant and the defendants was. According to the complaint, on Jan. 20 this year, Hadi wrote a prescription for 180 30-milligram oxycodone pills to a relative of the informant, who then passed it on to him. Allegedly, Hadi knew that the informant needed money and “urged” him to sell the pills for cash.

When FBI agents interviewed Hadi about the Jan. 20 prescription, he said he recalled that the purported patient “was in pain and needed medication,” and admitted that he wrote a controlled-substance script. Department of State travel records, however, indicated that the “patient,” a Greek citizen, was out of the country at the time.

Hadi, Siddiqui and Ahmed were arrested and arraigned in U.S. District Court in Central Islip on Thursday. They were each released on $500,000 bond, according to Newsday. They face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the charges against them. They reportedly did not enter a plea.

Hadi’s attorney, Hassan Ahmad, declined comment, as did Ahmed’s attorney, Sanford Talkin. Siddiqui’s attorney, John Carman, of Garden City, could not be reached at press time on Friday evening.