Ten people have been indicted in an alleged scheme that defrauded Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance companies out of at least $20 million by trafficking black-market HIV medication.
The scheme involved purchasing black-market HIV medications, in some cases from low-income patients who had been prescribed the medications, jeopardizing their health and safety, according to an Oct. 24 Justice Department news release. The prescriptions were sold to pharmacies owned and operated by three of the defendants. Defendants are accused of paying illegal kickbacks to recruit patients to their respective pharmacies in an effort to increase the number of medications for which they could fraudulently bill government payers.
The alleged scheme occurred between 2017 and 2023, according to the release. Two of the defendants are also accused in a related scheme in which they allegedly bought and resold diverted black-market prescription HIV medication through online prescription drug marketplaces to other pharmacies around the country from 2021 through October 2023.
Eight of those indicted have been arrested and two are at large, the release said.