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Aftab Hussain was sentenced to two to six years in prison for stealing over $11.5 million through a scheme involving illegal kickbacks and black market medications, the Attorney General’s Office announced on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
According to the AG's Office, Hussain owned or controlled more than 20 pharmacies, including some in Westchester County, where he exploited low-income patients to bill Medicaid for illegally obtained drugs.
From 2015 to 2019, Hussain and his associates targeted HIV-positive Medicaid recipients, offering illegal kickbacks of $25 to $100 to fill prescriptions at his pharmacies, according to the Attorney General’s Office. They then purchased the prescribed medications back from patients for $100 to $200 per bottle, far below their $2,000 to $3,000 wholesale value, leaving many patients without necessary treatments, officials said.
Some of Hussain’s pharmacies in Westchester County and elsewhere also dispensed large quantities of HIV medications obtained through black market channels, many of which had been obtained through other illegal kickbacks, the Attorney General’s Office said. The medications were fraudulently billed to Medicaid as if they had been legally acquired and safely distributed.
Hussain pleaded guilty to the following charges:
- First-degree grand larceny;
- Third-degree grand larceny;
- First-degree health care fraud;
- Second-degree health care fraud;
- First-degree scheme to defraud;
- Fourth-degree conspiracy.
He was sentenced by Judge Brendan Lantry in New York County Supreme Court and ordered to pay $7 million in restitution to the state.
Hussain was the final defendant sentenced in the investigation led by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU). The case resulted in the conviction of five individuals and the closure of several pharmacies, according to officials:
- Josmary Cardenas (aka Yasmine Aftab Hussain) pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including health care fraud, and was sentenced to five years’ probation on January 10, 2024;
- Victor Streety was sentenced to six months in jail and five years’ probation for scheme to defraud and criminal diversion of prescription medication on February 6, 2024;
- Blanca Vanessa Alvarado received a conditional discharge for petit larceny on June 12, 2024;
- Felix Lopez was sentenced to five years’ probation for scheme to defraud and related charges on April 27, 2022.
Two pharmacy companies controlled by Hussain or his co-conspirators—Broadway RX Enterprises Inc. and E-Green Pharmacy Inc. (d/b/a WinHealth Pharmacy)—pleaded guilty on October 16, 2024, and were ordered to dissolve as part of their sentencing, the Attorney General’s Office said.
In a statement, Attorney General Letitia James condemned the scheme:
"This predatory scheme stole millions of dollars while denying lifesaving treatment to New Yorkers in need," James said, adding, "Aftab Hussain exploited and endangered vulnerable New Yorkers with HIV, using them to steal taxpayer funds that provide health care to low-income patients, and now he will pay for his fraud.”
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