Owner Of Florida Pharmacy Pleads Guilty in $100 Million Fraud Scheme
Adetokunbo Fakeye
Florida, Nov. 8, 2017 (AltAfrika)-The president and owner of a Florida pharmacy in US, that was at the centre of a massive compounding pharmacy fraud scheme, which impacted private insurance companies, Medicare and TRICARE, on Monday pleaded guilty for his role in the scheme.
Seven other individuals have previously pleaded guilty in connection to the scheme. According to a release by Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI,various real properties, cars and a 50-foot boat will be forfeited as part of the guilty pleas.
The accused, Nicholas A. Borgesano Jr., 45, of New Port Richey, Florida, who is the president and owner of A to Z Pharmacy of New Port Richey, pleaded guilty to one charge count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to engage in monetary transactions involving criminally derived property.
The accused, Nicholas A. Borgesano Jr., 45, of New Port Richey, Florida, who is the president and owner of A to Z Pharmacy of New Port Richey, pleaded guilty to one charge count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to engage in monetary transactions involving criminally derived property.
His sentencing will be scheduled before U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr of the Middle District of Florida.
According to admissions made as part of his plea agreement, Borgesano owned and operated numerous pharmacies and shell companies that he and his co-conspirators used to execute a fraud scheme involving prescription compounded medications.
According to admissions made as part of his plea agreement, Borgesano owned and operated numerous pharmacies and shell companies that he and his co-conspirators used to execute a fraud scheme involving prescription compounded medications.
Borgesano admitted to the scheme that generated over $100 million in fraud proceeds from which he acquired and controlled A to Z Pharmacy in New Port Richey, Havana Pharmacy, Medplus/New Life Pharmacy and Metropolitan Pharmacy, all of Miami; and Jaimy Pharmacy and Prestige Pharmacy, both of Hialeah, Florida.
During the trial, he admitted using these pharmacies to cause the submission of false and fraudulent reimbursement claims for prescription compounded medications, chiefly pain creams and scar creams, to private insurance companies, Medicare and TRICARE.
Borgesano also admitted that he and his co-conspirators manipulated billing codes in the reimbursement claims and submitted reimbursement claims for pharmaceutical ingredients they did not have.
He and his co-conspirators further admitted they paid kickbacks and bribes in exchange for prescriptions and patient identifying information used to further the scheme, including to a physician in exchange for the physician signing prescriptions for patients he never saw.
Borgesano admitted using A to Z Pharmacy as the hub of his operation on behalf of all his pharmacies.
He disbursed proceeds of the fraud scheme through a variety of methods, including by check and wire transfer to co-conspirators’ shell companies and through the purchase of assets, he admitted.
Fraud Section leads the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which is part of a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country.
The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operates in nine locations nationwide has charged over 3, 500 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for over $12.5billion since its inception in March 2007.
