Covington Neurologist Sentenced To 24 Months in Prison for His Guilty Plea to Conspiracy to Unlawfully Dispense Oxycodone and Hydrocodone and Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud

NEW ORLEANS, La. - U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser announced that ANIL PRASAD, M.D., age 63, a resident of Covington, Louisiana was sentenced on January 28, 2020 by U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo to 24 months’ imprisonment followed by (3) three years of supervised release, with the condition that the first 12 months of supervised release be served on home confinement in connection with his guilty plea to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  In addition, PRASAD agreed to pay $1,657,461.15 in restitution to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. 

According to court documents, PRASAD admitted that he conspired with others to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances—including oxycodone and hydrocodone—at a medical clinic that was, in actuality, a pill mill.  PRASAD admitted that he rarely performed face-to-face examinations of patients at the clinic to determine whether any medical necessity existed for the controlled substances that he dispensed to them.  Instead, PRASAD admitted that he pre-signed prescriptions for controlled substances for patients.  Those patients then picked up the prescriptions from the clinic after making a cash payment to the clinic.  PRASAD also admitted that he pre-signed prescriptions before traveling internationally, and that patients would pick up those prescriptions while he was out of the country.  Further, PRASAD admitted that he knew certain patients who received the pre-signed prescriptions used their Medicare and Medicaid benefits to fill the prescriptions at area pharmacies.  In total, Medicare and Medicaid paid approximately $1,657,461.15 for those prescriptions.

U.S. Attorney Strasser praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Department of Veterans Affairs for their work investigating the case. 

The case is being prosecuted by Jared Hasten of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharan Lieberman. 

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