HARRISBURG, PA – Attorney General Michelle Henry announced that Philadelphia-based Aramingo Pharmacy, led by owner Ahmed Bachir, pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud. The investigation revealed the pharmacy filed fraudulent claims totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars to health insurance providers, including Medicaid.
Aramingo Pharmacy is ordered to pay $573,992 in restitution to the health insurance providers and an additional $300,866 to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Human Services-Bureau of Program Integrity, totaling $874,858 in restitution.
Bachir, 32, faces a five-year suspension of his pharmacist license and is barred from serving as a Medicaid provider for the same duration.
Attorney General Henry emphasized the role of pharmacists in ensuring public health and denounced Aramingo Pharmacy’s prioritization of profit over patient care. The Grand Jury investigation found that from June 2019 to June 2021, Aramingo Pharmacy billed for prescription medications never provided to patients, totaling $573,992. They engaged in practices like billing for brand-name medications while dispensing generic versions, pressuring physicians to prescribe unnecessary and expensive medications, and refilling expensive medications without patient consent or dispensation, fraudulently billing insurance companies for these refills. Henry stressed that those who attempt to defraud the healthcare system will face accountability.