Two Brooklyn, N.Y., pharmacists were arrested on Wednesday on healthcare fraud charges for their alleged participation in a scheme to defraud Medicare Part D of more than $3 million, announced the Department of Justice, FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Luba Balyasny, 46, and Alla Shrayber, 40, have each been charged with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud in a criminal complaint unsealed in the Eastern District of New York. Balyasny and Shrayber, both of Brooklyn, are licensed pharmacists in New York State, who co-owned and operated Monica's Pharmacy and L & A Pharmacy.
According to court documents, from January 2007 through December 2009, Balyasny and Shrayber allegedly defrauded the Medicare Part D program by systematically submitting false claims through their pharmacies for certain prescription medications that were not purchased by their businesses and were never dispensed to Medicare beneficiaries.
The complaint alleges that the inventory at both pharmacies for certain prescription medications did not match the pharmacies' Part D reimbursement claims.
Court documents noted that the pharmacies submitted prescription drug claims totaling approximately 869,698 units of prescription medications without any supporting drug purchase invoices. The shortfall allegedly resulted in approximately $3 million in false and fraudulent claims paid by Medicare Part D, Part D Plans and beneficiaries for prescription drugs that were never purchased or dispensed.
If convicted, Balyasny and Shrayber face a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.