The act of money laundering certainly has nothing to do with physically cleaning dollar bills. The criminal act involves disguising financial assets so that the illegal actions used to attain them go undetected. Money laundering is a process by which a perpetrator transforms his or her ill-gotten monetary proceeds into funds that appear to have been generated by a legal source.
As reported by the Office of Public Affairs earlier this week, two New York-based pharmacists have been sentenced for their roles in a scheme involving money laundering. Both 44 year-old, Peter Khaim and his 41 year-old brother, Arkadiy Khaimov have some prison time ahead of them. Khaim was sentenced to eight years and one month in prison this past Monday. Khaimov was sentenced to six years in prison, back on April 3rd.
The brothers submitted millions of dollars in false claims to Medicare.
According to the report, Khaim and Khaimov are residents of Forest Hills, New York. Both pharmacy owners, the brothers engaged in a scheme to defraud Medicare and launder their proceeds during the COVID-19 pandemic. Court documents showed that Khaim and Khaimov engaged in a complex conspiracy to launder the proceeds of a fraudulent health care scheme. It involved no less than 16 New York-area pharmacies that they and their co-conspirators owned and controlled.
The brothers and their co-conspirators exploited the pandemic for their own financial gain. They did so by using COVID-19-related “emergency override” billing codes. With them, they submitted fraudulent claims for expensive cancer medications including Targretin Gel 1% and Panretin Gel 0.1%. Neither was prescribed by physicians or dispensed to patients. However, they were purportedly dispensed during periods when certain pharmacies were closed.
Khaim and Khaimov funneled money through several shell companies.
The money laundering scheme perpetuated by the brothers sought to conceal over $18 million of ill-gotten gains. They used numerous shell companies including sham pharmacy wholesale companies that were made to look like legitimate wholesalers. Khaim and Khaimov generally sent the funds from the pharmacy bank accounts they controlled to the sham wholesale companies.
“The funds were then typically sent to companies in China for distribution to individuals in Uzbekistan,” details the Office of Public Affairs, “The defendants then received a corresponding amount of cash from a co-conspirator, minus a commission. At other times, the fraudulent proceeds were sent from the sham wholesale companies to Khaim, Khaimov, their relatives, or their designees, in the form of certified cashier’s checks and cash. Khaim and Khaimov used the proceeds of the scheme to purchase real estate and other luxury items.”
Both brothers pleaded guilty to their crimes.
Khaim pleaded guilty on November 3, 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Khaimov pleaded guilty on November 16, 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. During his sentencing, Khaim was ordered to pay more than $18 million in restitution. He also has to forfeit more than $2.7 million. Khaimov was ordered to pay more than $18 million in restitution. As well, he must forfeit more than $9.6 million.
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