DETROIT, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A Michigan pharmacist who owns 20 drugstores orchestrated a scheme that cost Medicare and Medicaid $60 million, federal prosecutors say.
Babubhai "Bob" Patel, 49, of Canton, 12 pharmacists, four doctors and others were named in an indictment unsealed Tuesday, The Detroit News reported. A total of 26 defendants were named.
Investigators say Patel recruited patients who were willing, in exchange for kickbacks. to participate in fraud.
Medicare and Medicaid were allegedly billed for drugs that were not needed and in some cases not supplied. He allegedly paid kickbacks to doctors who wrote prescriptions "without regard to the medical necessity of those prescriptions and services."
All the defendants face charges of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. Most were also charged with conspiring to distribute controlled substances, including OxyContin, Xanax and a codeine cough syrup.
