The Department of Justice Health Care Fraud Unit recently secured its largest-ever forfeiture in a case involving a Plano pharmacist’s fraud and money laundering schemes.
Last month, Dehshid “David” Nourian, 62, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison and ordered to pay more than $115 million in restitution for his part in a $145 million scheme to defraud the Department of Labor by submitting fraudulent claims. Then, on March 6, the court ordered Nourian to forfeit $405 million in assets connected to his fraud and money laundering schemes.
Nourian was convicted in November 2023 of “one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, eight counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to launder money, five counts of money laundering, and one count one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States by failing to report and attempting to evade the collection of taxes owed to the IRS,” per a press release by the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to evidence presented at the trial, Nourian and others “conspired to pay doctors to prescribe medically unnecessary compound creams to injured federal workers,” per the news release. Nourian and other pharmacists at three pharmacy locations in the DFW area filled these prescriptions and submitted Workers’ Compensation insurance claims for them.
“Evidence at trial showed these compounds were being mixed in the back rooms of the pharmacies by untrained teenagers at a cost to the defendants of around $15 per prescription and then billed to the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (DOL-OWCP) for as much as $16,000 per prescription. Patients who received the creams testified at trial to the creams’ ineffectiveness and, in some instances, that using the creams resulted in painful, irritating skin rashes,” the press release stated.
Over a span of less than three years, these pharmacies billed the Department of Labor Worker’s Compensation and Blue Cross and Blue Shield for more than $145 million and were paid more than $90 million for unnecessary prescriptions written by medical providers who were compensated with bribes and kickbacks. The conspirators attempted to hide their illicit gain and avoid paying taxes by laundering the money through various holding companies. The funds were deposited in Nourian and his family’s bank and brokerage accounts.
The forfeiture included $395 in brokerage accounts, more than $2 million in bank accounts, real estate in Dallas and Austin valued at $8 million, and a BMW luxury vehicle.
Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said the forfeiture was the highest “ever obtained in a health care fraud case in the Department’s history – and now his ill-gotten proceeds will be returned to the taxpayers and programs designed to care for our most vulnerable citizens.”
“Dehshid Nourian defrauded the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) by submitting false claims for medically unnecessary services. His actions placed illegal profits above patient safety,” said Casey Howard of the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners and OWCP to protect the integrity of DOL’s worker compensation programs.”