Two pharmacy owners in Los Angeles were sentenced to 12 years each in prison for an $11.8 million Medicare fraud scheme, NBC Los Angeles reported.
From 2012 to 2015, Aleksandr Suris and Maxim Sverdlov, who owned Royal Care Pharmacy, fraudulently billed Medicare and Cigna for drugs that were never dispensed.
To cover up the fraud, they got fake invoices from a co-conspirator to make it seem like they purchased the drugs they billed for. They then used the fake invoices to launder money through the co-conspirator, NBC reported.
Each of the two men was convicted last August of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit money-laundering. Mr. Suris also was found guilty of another conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and healthcare fraud charge.
They were held jointly responsible for more than $11.8 million in restitution and ordered to pay $500,000 each within six months, according to NBC.
Read the full article here.