NYC Doctor Accused in Oxycodone Ring: Feds

A doctor and 10 others have been accused of illegally distributing over a million oxycodone pills out of a storefront office in upper Manhattan, federal law enforcement officials say.

Dr. Moshe Mirilishvili and eight of his co-conspirators were arrested early Thursday after a two-year investigation by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration into alleged trafficking of the addictive prescription narcotic at Mirilishvili's Washington Heights office.  Two suspects remained at large Friday.

Prosecutors say that Mirilishvili is accused of writing more than 13,000 medically unnecessary prescriptions for oxycodone in his Manhattan office between 2012 and 2014.

U.S. Attorneys say he allegedly collected more than $2.6 million in fees from phony patients typically charging $200 in cash for each visit while conducting little, if any, actual examination and almost always issuing a prescription for 90 30-milligram oxycodone tablets.

The other suspects charged included drug traffickers who allegedly recruited and paid phony patients to go to clinics in Manhattan and the Bronx and obtain medically unnecessary oxycodone prescriptions. The drug traffickers would then allegedly take the prescriptions, get them filled at various pharmacies and then re-sell the pills on the streets of New York, the court papers say.

The total street value of the drugs the doctor allegedly prescribed is more than $36 million.

Several employees of the clinics were also charged with profiting from the scheme by allegedly charging the drug traffickers cash fees for scheduling the phony patient visits.

Each of the defendants face 20 years in jail if convicted. The suspects were set to appear in federal court in Manhattan Thursday.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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