A Michigan pharmacist, Nabil Fakih, received a 46-month prison sentence and significant financial penalties after pleading guilty to a Medicare billing scheme that prosecutors say cost the program about $4 million.
A federal judge sentenced the former Dearborn Heights pharmacy owner to 46 months behind bars and ordered him to pay $4 million in restitution. The court also required the forfeiture of four real estate properties and $726,364.96 tied to the scheme, reflecting the scale of the alleged misconduct and the government’s push to recover ill-gotten gains.
According to court filings, the fraud unfolded over several years, from roughly 2011 through 2017, at the pharmacy Fakih owned and operated in Dearborn Heights. Prosecutors say he billed Medicare for prescription drugs that were never dispensed to patients, creating a paper trail of false claims for reimbursement.
The scheme targeted high-reimbursing medications, with Medicare billed for items like blood thinners and inhalers used to treat serious lung conditions. Investigators contend the pharmacy lacked the actual inventory to fill many of those prescriptions, meaning Medicare paid for drugs that were never provided to beneficiaries.
Authorities say Fakih concealed the fraud by fiddling with pharmacy purchase records and by obscuring how the proceeds flowed out of the business. Funds were allegedly moved and spent for personal benefit, which investigators say amplified the damage and complicated efforts to trace the payments. The cumulative loss to Medicare in this case is estimated at about $4 million.
In August 2024, Fakih entered a guilty plea to a single count of health care fraud in the Eastern District of Michigan federal court. He admitted his role in the scheme during the proceeding and accepted responsibility under the terms of the plea.
The Department of Justice announced the sentence, naming Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti and Special Agents in Charge Jennifer Runyan of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office and Mario Pinto of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Those agencies led the investigation into the billing practices at the pharmacy. FBI and HHS-OIG investigators worked together to trace claims, inventory records, and financial transactions tied to the business.
Trial Attorney Andres Q. Almendarez from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section handled the prosecution on behalf of the government. The Fraud Section coordinates large-scale efforts to root out health care fraud and partners with strike forces that focus on complex schemes involving federal health programs. That coordination is intended to strengthen investigations and streamline prosecutions across districts.
The Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program has operated since March 2007 and now includes multiple regional teams. Those strike forces, working in numerous federal districts, have brought thousands of defendants to court for schemes that allegedly billed federal and private payers tens of billions of dollars. Authorities describe this case as one among many where enforcement efforts aim both to punish wrongdoing and to deter future abuse of taxpayer-funded health care programs.
Regulatory agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services coordinate with investigative bodies to identify suspicious billing and to take corrective steps when providers are implicated. Officials emphasize that provider accountability is central to reducing fraud, waste, and abuse across federal health programs, and that recovering funds and pursuing criminal charges remain key tools in that effort.
Separately, the Justice Department recently reported a nationwide initiative that led to charges against hundreds of defendants for health care fraud in other cases. In June, the department announced it had charged roughly 300 defendants in related enforcement actions designed to disrupt organized schemes and recover losses for federal programs.
