Photo Courtesy of Google
Value Pharmacy, Inc. opened its doors in Corona, but evwentually moved to Long Island.
By Forum Staff
The owner of a pharmacy formerly located in Corona has been sentenced to six months in jail, five years’ probation, and 200 hours of community service for defrauding the NY Medicaid program out of $1.5 million, State Attorney General Barbara Underwood and State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced on Friday.
Arkady Goldin, 40, of Brooklyn, owns Value Pharmacy, Inc., which is now located in Lynbrook, N.Y. In addition to the aforementioned punishment, Goldin and Value Pharmacy will be required to pay $1.5 million to the state as restitution for the money stolen from Medicaid and an additional $1.5 million in financial penalties, for a total of $3 million, according to authorities.
An investigation conducted by the attorney general and comptroller’s Joint Task Force on Public Integrity revealed that Goldin had entered into an unlawful kickback arrangement with a former hospital employee to steer prescriptions to Value. As part of the scheme, Value submitted false claims to the Medicaid program for medications that it never dispensed.
The investigation uncovered that from January 2012 to November 2013, Goldin had a kickback arrangement with a former employee of Nassau University Medical Center who, earlier in the investigation, pleaded guilty to unlawfully accepting kickbacks related to Medicaid services. In exchange for steering expensive cancer prescriptions from NUMC to Value, Goldin paid the hospital employee a monthly cash referral fee and provided him with other items of value, including tickets to sporting events, an iPad, and free meals. State law strictly prohibits all medical providers, including pharmacies, from paying or offering to pay kickbacks to another person in return for the referral of medical services ultimately paid for by Medicaid.
Additionally, as part of the scheme, Value did not purchase sufficient amounts of medication from licensed state drug wholesalers that would have been necessary if Value legitimately dispensed prescriptions for which Value billed Medicaid. As a result of the unlawful scheme, Medicaid ultimately paid Value over $1.5 million for unlawful claims for medications.
Last month, Goldin pleaded guilty to health care fraud in the second degree, a class C felony, and to violating the Social Services Law prohibition on the payment of kickbacks related to the State’s Medicaid program, a class E felony.
“Mr. Goldin’s jail sentence and order to repay millions to the State should serve as a warning,” DiNapoli said. “Mr. Goldin defrauded a program meant to help vulnerable New Yorkers and is being held accountable. My thanks to Attorney General Underwood for our ongoing joint efforts to protect the public’s money.”
