A Michigan man pleaded guilty yesterday to defrauding health care benefit programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, by billing for prescription medications that he never dispensed and providing unlawful prescriptions of oxycodone to drug traffickers in exchange for cash.
According to court documents, Ali Naserdean, 32, of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, was a pharmacy technician at three metro-Detroit pharmacies. From 2019 through 2022, Naserdean and his co-conspirator submitted false and fraudulent claims to health care benefit programs for prescription drugs that were not ordered by a doctor and never dispensed to the patient. Naserdean and his co-conspirator used forged prescriptions from doctors to hide their scheme, when the patient had never seen the listed doctor and the medication had never actually been prescribed. Naserdean and his co-conspirator caused over $5.6 million of loss to Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Additionally, from 2019 through 2022, Naserdean provided unlawful prescriptions of oxycodone to drug traffickers in exchange for cash, without regard to whether the prescriptions were actually prescribed by physicians or dispensed in good faith.
Naserdean pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and possession with intent to illegally distribute oxycodone. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 1 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division; U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. for the Eastern District of Michigan; Special Agent in Charge Reuben Coleman of the FBI Detroit Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Thomas Ethridge of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) made the announcement.
The FBI Detroit Field Office, HHS-OIG, and the City of Dearborn Police Department investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Jeffrey A. Crapko of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul A. Kuebler for the Eastern District of Michigan prosecuted the case.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the Fraud Division. The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.
The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently comprised of eight strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
