A Virginia doctor pleaded guilty to a nearly $2 million health care fraud scheme that involved prescribing medically unnecessary medications, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced in a press release last Friday.
Defendant Leonard Rosen, 72, of Fairfax Station, Virginia, has been an obstetrician-gynecologist in the area since 1980. Rosen, according to the release, struck a deal with pharmacist Mohamed Abdalla, 48, of Allendale, New Jersey in 2014 to prescribe medically unnecessary expensive compounded pain and scar creams to be filled at Abdalla’s pharmacies. In return, Abdalla allegedly paid Rosen a percentage of the profits. This illegal agreement cost $1,880,575.70 in losses to private health care benefit programs, the press release stated.
“‘Through his deceit and greed, Rosen exploited the trust placed in him as a medical professional,’” Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Raj Parekh said in the press release. “‘Instead of prescribing medications in an honest and lawful manner to help those in need, the defendant sold out his medical license and training, and will now become a convicted felon.’”
Rosen is scheduled to be sentenced on December 10, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. His partner in the scheme was sentenced to four years in prison in March, according to the press release.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Monika Moore and Carina A. Cuellar are the prosecuting attorneys.
