TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that the owner of two pharmacies in East
Orange and Jersey City pleaded guilty today
to overbilling Medicaid by hundreds of thousands
of dollars for HIV/AIDS drugs that were
never dispensed.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Abdul Bari, 53, of Nutley, pleaded
guilty before Superior Court Judge Kevin
G. Callahan in Hudson County to an accusation
charging him with second-degree health care
claims fraud and third-degree filing a false
or fraudulent New Jersey income tax return.
Bari,
one of the owners of MLK Pharmacy on M.L.K
Drive in Jersey City and Ampere Pharmacy
on 4th Avenue in East Orange, admitted that
between January 2005 and October 2007, he
fraudulently submitted bills to the Medicaid
program for HIV/AIDS drugs that were never
dispensed. He admitted that he purchased
prescriptions from Medicaid participants
for a small fraction of the cost of the
drugs prescribed, and in turn billed Medicaid
thousands of dollars without dispensing
the drugs. An investigation led by the Medicaid
Fraud Control Unit of the Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor revealed that the two pharmacies
overbilled Medicaid by hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
Additionally,
Bari admitted that he caused fraudulent
personal income tax returns to be submitted
to the New Jersey Division of Taxation for
tax years ending in 2004 through 2006.
Under
the plea agreement, Bari faces a sentence
of three years in state prison. Bari is
scheduled to appear before Judge Callahan
on Oct. 10 to be sentenced.
The
Attorney General’s Office also instituted
an asset forfeiture case on October 29,
2007, when it seized assets from Bari valued
at approximately $300,000, including a parcel
of real property, $173,000 in bank accounts
and two vehicles. In settling the forfeiture
case, Bari agreed to forfeit all seized
assets and to pay an additional $327,000.
Restitution in the amount of $301,000 will
be paid to the Medicaid program from the
total settlement with Bari.
Detectives Kevin Gannon and Joseph Jaruszewski,
and Deputy Attorney General Erik W. Daab
were assigned to the investigation. Deputy
Attorney Daab represented the Office of
Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the guilty
plea hearing. Sgt. James Wrightson and Deputy
Attorney General Carol Stanton Meier were
assigned to the asset forfeiture case. The
Jersey City Police Department also assisted
in this investigation. Prosecutor Brown
thanked the Jersey City Police Department
for their valuable assistance.
“Abuse
of the Medicaid program is a particularly
disturbing crime,” said Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden Brown. “Not
only does such fraud involve theft of tax
dollars, it involves theft from a program
that assists persons who cannot afford health
insurance or health care services. Such
cases are a priority for the Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor.”
Prosecutor
Brown noted that some important cases have
started with anonymous tips. People who
are concerned about insurance cheating and
have information about a fraud can report
it anonymously by calling the toll-free
hotline 1-877-55-FRAUD or visiting the Web
site www.njinsurancefraud.org.
State regulations permit an award to be
paid to an eligible person who provides
information that leads to an arrest, prosecution
and conviction for insurance fraud.
The
Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor was
established by the Automobile Insurance
Cost Reduction Act of 1998. The office is
the centralized state agency that investigates
and prosecutes both civil and criminal insurance
fraud, as well as Medicaid fraud.
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