New Jersey Pharmacy Owner Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud Scheme Involving Billing Medicare for Undispensed Medication

NEWARK, N.J. – A New Jersey pharmacy owner pleaded guilty to health care fraud, Acting U.S. Attorney and Special Attorney Alina Habba announced.

Nestor E. Jaime, 37, of Pine Brook, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on November 19, 2025, to an Indictment charging him with one count of health care fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1347, before U.S. district Judge Katharine S. Hayden in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From December 2019 to December 2021, Jaime, through a pharmacy he owned located in Paterson, New Jersey, submitted hundreds of false claims to Medicare for a high reimbursement (i.e., more than $4,000 per prescription) medication called Dificid, which the pharmacy never actually purchased or dispensed. Jaime submitted false claims on behalf of dozens of Medicare beneficiaries who never were prescribed any Dificid. To make it appear as though the Medicare beneficiaries’ health care providers had prescribed the medication, Jaime falsely included the providers’ unique provider numbers on the fraudulent claims. As a result of the scheme, Medicare paid Jaime reimbursements for false claims for Dificid totaling at least approximately $2.5 million, which Jaime spent on luxury vehicles and other personal expenditures.

The charge of health care fraud carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest.

Acting U.S. Attorney and Special Attorney Habba credited special agents of the Health and Human Services Agency Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Naomi Gruchacz, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy in Newark, with the investigation leading to the charge.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica R. Ecker and Kruti Dharia of the Health Care Fraud and Opioids Enforcement Unit in Newark.

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Defense counsel: Anthony Iacullo, Esq.