The last of six defendants were sentenced for participating in multiple healthcare fraud conspiracies involving kickbacks and fraudulent billings that resulted in nearly $8 million in losses to federal, state, and private healthcare benefit programs. According to court documents, Mohamed Abdalla, 48, of Allendale, New Jersey, owned multiple pharmacies in northern Virginia, including Medex Health Pharmacy in Falls Church and Royal Care Pharmacy in Fairfax. As the owner of these pharmacies, Abdalla oversaw and executed two related schemes to defraud healthcare benefit programs. One scheme involved the payment or receipt of unlawful kickbacks for expensive drugs and devices in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Another scheme involved billing federal, state, and private healthcare benefit programs for numerous expensive drugs and devices that were not medically necessary, not prescribed by a physician, or were not received by a beneficiary. On March 19, Abdalla was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the conspiracies. Five additional defendants have pleaded guilty and been sentenced for their respective roles in conspiring to pay kickbacks and defraud health insurance providers.
