Physician Charged in a $32 Million Illegal Opioid Distribution Conspiracy

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/physician-charged-32-million-illegal-opioid-distribution-conspiracy

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Michigan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 24, 2018


Physician Charged in a $32 Million Illegal Opioid Distribution Conspiracy

An indictment was unsealed today charging the owner and sole practitioner of a medical clinic with conspiracy to illegally distribute prescription drugs, U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider announced today.
(snip)

Charged in the indictment is Dr. Afzal Beemath, 42, of Waterford. The indictment alleges that from January 2013 through October 2018, Dr. Afzal Beemath conspired with others to issue a large number of prescription opioids to recruited “patients” who did not have a legitimate medical need for the drugs. Dr. Beemath operated Afzal Beemath, M.D., P.C., in Lathrup Village. Beemath only accepted cash at his clinic, and utilized the clinic to prescribe oxycodone and oxymorphone, two of the most addictive and diverted opioids that have a significant street value. Dr. Beemath, often-prescribed benzodiazepines in conjunction with the opioids, which when used together can be a lethal combination.

Patient recruiters brought supposed “patients” to the clinic to obtain medically unnecessary opioid prescriptions. The recruiters would then fill the prescriptions and sell the opioid pills on the street at a significant profit. According to the indictment, Dr. Beemath, issued more than 1 million dosage units of Schedule II opioids during the course of the conspiracy. These controlled substances had a conservative street value in excess of $32,000,000.
(snip)