Ten individuals are facing multiple felony charges as a result of the
Court records charge that the 10 defendants conspired to defraud co-pay programs by submitting claims for fraudulent prescriptions from January 2014 through November of this year. They submitted requests for reimbursements from pharmaceutical manufacturers for medications that were not prescribed by physicians or dispensed at the involved pharmacies, according to court records.
Facing charges are: Hussein Abdallah, Mohamad Abou-Khodr, Daniel Haidar, Nabil Chehadeh, Ali El-Moussawi, Bassem Farhat, Hussein Wazne, Bahia Zeidan, Linda Fawaz and Suzan Berro. The pharmacies involved in the charges are located in 15 different municipalities in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. In addition to Westland and Canton, facilities in Sterling Heights, Clinton Township, Novi, Waterford Township, Taylor, Livonia, Dearborn Heights, Lincoln Park, Garden City, Southgate, Wyandotte, Redford Township and New Boston are named in the criminal complaint. A pharmacy in Lansing was also involved, officials said.
Abdallah, Abou-Khodr, Haidar and Chehadah would often hide their ownership interest in the pharmacies and would name Zeidan and Fawaz as nominee owners, according to authorities. Farhat would help prepare documents needed to open the pharmacies, and as none of those involved is a licensed pharmacist, those involved would pay a licensed Michigan pharmacist to serve as the pharmacist in charge of the new businesses, officials claimed in the court documents. When third-party administrators got suspicious of the pharmacies and requested supporting documentation or on-site audits, the people involved in the scheme would either fail to respond to the requests or refuse to submit to an audit, officials said.
Wayne County pharmacies accused of involvement in the scheme include: Michigan RX Pharmacy -- 44237 Michigan Ave. in Canton Township; Canton RX -- 145 North Haggerty Road in Canton Township; Smart TX Pharmacy -- 25464 Van Born Road in Dearborn Heights; Clinic RX2, later Med Rite Pharmacy -- 23850 Van Born Road in Dearborn Heights; Pro Med Pharmacy, later Guardian Pharmacy -- 29866 Ford Road in Garden City; Wellmart Pharmacy, later Brite Well RX -- 28542 Ford Road in Garden City; Downriver RX Pharmacy, later First Aid Pharmacy -- 2017 Fort Street in Lincoln Park; Smart Pharmacy -- 8966 Middle Belt Road in Livonia; Levan RX, later Nova Pharmacy -- 15140 Levan Road, suite 40 in Livonia; New Boston RX Pharmacy -- 19162 Huron River Dr.
The six other pharmacies named in the court documents are in Novi, Waterford Township, Clinton Township and Sterling Heights.
The defendants face money laundering, wire fraud and mail fraud charges and if convicted will be ordered to forfeit all
