Crime & Safety
Forest Hills Pharmacist Behind $7.2M Drug Rebate Scam Sentenced: Feds
Arkadiy Khaimov, 39, pocketed $7.2 million in reimbursements for medications that his pharmacies never dispensed, prosecutors said.
FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — A Forest Hills pharmacist who pocketed $7.2 million in reimbursements for drugs he never dispensed will spend over four years in prison, federal prosecutors announced.
Arkadiy Khaimov, 39, was sentenced to 51 months in prison Thursday in federal court after pleading guilty to the drug rebate scheme in August 2020, the Department of Justice said.
The sentencing brings an end to the nearly year-and-a-half long scheme, which started in February 2017 and went until July 2018, according to the Department of Justice.
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During that time, Khaimov and two co-conspirators filed reimbursement claims from pharmacies in Queens and Manhattan for medications they never actually dispensed to the tune of $7.2 million, prosecutors said.
The phony reimbursement claims were under a program intended to reimburse pharmacies for dispensing a medication for a possibly deadly disease to people who needed financial help, prosecutors said.
Find out what's happening in Forest Hillsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In some instances, the pharmacists fraudulently used the credentials of a Long Island-based physician to submit the fake claims, according to the Department of Justice.
They also requested reimbursements for 18-day or 21-day supplies of the drug so they could file two reimbursement claims a month, even though pharmacists typically give four weeks' worth of the drug at a time, Patch reported at the time.
As part of the sentencing, Khaimov has to give up $489,000 of his earnings from the scheme and pay back about $7.2 million, prosecutors said.
"Khaimov selfishly stole from a program that was intended to reduce the cost of a medication to uninsured individuals and those in need of financial assistance, who were suffering from a serious and potentially life-threatening disease," said Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
"Today’s sentence sends a message that incarceration and significant financial penalties are the criminal justice system’s remedies for those who would abuse such beneficial programs to benefit themselves."
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