Corona Pharmacy Ran $3M Medicaid Scam With Bogus HIV Scrips, AG Says

QUEENS — A Corona pharmacy ran a $3 million scam to bilk Medicaid with fake claims for HIV drug bills, New York Attorney General Letitia James said.

Santiago Pharmacy owner Juan Poveda and manager Javier Burbano, both 32, were arrested on money laundering charges for the scheme that's been running since January 2019, said the Attorney General.

“We trust pharmacies to attend to the needs and welfare of their patients," said James, "not to take advantage of our most vulnerable neighbors to line their own pockets."

Poveda and Burbano stand accused of paying Medicaid recipients to submit false claims for HIV drugs to the pharmacy, James said.

The pair stole more than $2.9 million dollars from Amida Care, a Medicaid-funded managed care organization, by billing for drugs that were either not legally obtained or that never existed, the Attorney General said.

James's office also executed search warrants at Corona Chemist Pharmacy in Corona and Mi Botica Pharmacy in Flushing as part of an ongoing healthcare fraud investigation, prosecutors said.

Poveda, from Nassau County, allegedly attempted to hide the illegally obtained money by funneling the funds from Santiago Pharmacy accounts to bank accounts without any apparent business operations, including B&H Health Distributors Inc. and Pobal Cargo, LLC, James said.