DOJ Issues New Indictments in Opioid Prescription Scheme

As part of its ongoing campaign against opioid-related fraud, the Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment Thursday against a CEO and four doctors in connection with a conspiracy to write unnecessary prescriptions.

All five defendants were previously indicted last July, with the trial scheduled to begin on July 31 of this year. The superseding indictment alleges that from 2008 through 2017 the five conspired to prescribe over 4.2 million dosage units of medically unnecessary controlled substances to Medicare patients, including highly addictive opioids such as oxycodone, oxymorphone and hydrocodone.

The indictment charges Tri-County Wellness CEO Mashiyat Rashid and the four physicians with one count each of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, and charges Rashid with four additional counts of healthcare fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive health care kickbacks, one count of payment of kickbacks, one count of receipt of kickbacks and two counts of money laundering.