A California man was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison for submitting more than $1 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for prescription drugs that were never dispensed to beneficiaries.
According to court documents, Paul Mansour, 56, of Sierra Madre, was a pharmacist who co-owned Mansour Partners Inc., doing business as Best Buy Drugs (Best Buy). From Jan. 2017 to July 2022, Mansour created fake patient profiles in the Best Buy pharmacy’s digital filing system using fictitious names, dates of birth, and addresses.
Mansour added fraudulent prescriptions to the fake patient profiles and then submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for those prescriptions in the name of actual Best Buy patients. In doing so, Mansour billed Medicare for fraudulent prescriptions never dispensed to beneficiaries.
Mansour pleaded guilty on April 5, 2023, to one count of healthcare fraud.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting Assistant Director in Charge Krysti Hawkins of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Timothy DeFrancesca of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Los Angeles Regional Office made the announcement.
The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case, which Trial Attorney Matthew R. Belz of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted.
