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DETROIT (WWJ) – A suburban Detroit pharmacist will spend over four years in prison for crimes related to distributing drugs illegally and health care fraud.
Nadeem Iqbal, 56, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert H. Cleland to 52 months in prison for participating in a conspiracy to distribute prescription pills, health care fraud and money laundering.
Iqbal pled guilty in November to the felony counts – he admitted that he illegally distributed over 222,000 dosage units of controlled substances and fraudulently obtained at least $1,619,471.67 from the federal Medicare program. He also laundered $150,000 of proceeds in a single transaction.
Oxycontin, oxycodone, and hydrocodone are controlled substances that may be
dispensed by a pharmacist only for a legitimate medical purpose.
Iqbal will forfeit $1,422,000 that was seized from his investment account.
His case is related to 44 defendants named in a multi-count second
superseding indictment unsealed in March of 2013. Six doctors and four additional
pharmacists were convicted, either by guilty plea or at trial.