One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
OxyContin Ring Bilked Medicare, Brought 1 Million Pills to Black Market
This week federal and state authorities announced that they were cracking down on a ring that bilked medicare out of 1 million pills that went for $23 to $27 a pop on the black market.
Authorities charged 14 people, including two doctors, who ran the scheme out of a clinic called Lake Medical Group on West 8th Street. The scheme that went like this: "cappers" would find people who were eligible for Medicare and bring them back to the clinic. The doctors would write up prescriptions the patients didn't need — and sometimes they would pretend to run tests as well, to make the scheme look legit. These "patients" were paid for their time. (Other patients simply had their beneficiary information stolen.) The "runners" would take these Medicare patients to the pharmacy to pick up their prescriptions and bring them back to the clinic. Then they would sell the pills on the black market at massive mark-ups — some prescriptions were free through Medicare and could be re-sold for up $1,200 a bottle.
The leaders of the scheme Mike Mikaelian and Anjelika Sanamian are defendants in the case, as well as doctors Morris Halfon and Eleanor Santiago and pharmacist owner Theodore Yoon. The indictment alleges a conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, a conspiracy to commit health care fraud, substantive health care fraud charges, and unlicensed wholesale distribution of prescription drugs.
"The two-year investigation into this organization reveals the sophisticated nature of today’s drug traffickers," said U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr., in a statement. "With a medical clinic and doctors to lend it legitimacy, the organization not only flooded the streets of Los Angeles with an extremely dangerous narcotic, it also bilked a government-run program designed to help the poor and elderly."
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
