Onkur Lal, Healthcare Fraud Conspiracy, Virginia 2023

Alexandria, VA – In a shocking turn of events, an Arlington man has been found guilty of his role in a massive healthcare fraud conspiracy that has left millions of dollars in losses in its wake.

An investigation by authorities found that Onkur Lal, 29, was involved in a complex web of deceit and corruption that spanned several years. From 2014 to 2019, Lal worked in various roles at several pharmacies, including MedEx Pharmacy, MedEx Health Pharmacy, and Royal Care Pharmacy, all of which were owned and operated by the same individual.

According to court documents, Lal conspired with the owner and others in a number of different fraudulent schemes to defraud health care benefit programs, including TRICARE, Medicare, Virginia Medicaid, and Maryland Medicaid. Lal took part in a number of schemes, including generating false prescriptions, billing health insurance companies for prescriptions that were never filled, and billing patients’ health care benefit programs for numerous high-cost medications that he and his co-conspirators knew were not prescribed and/or never received.

Lal and his conspirators also submitted false invoices under the names of other pharmacies, in an attempt to circumvent audits. Further, Lal and another co-conspirator fraudulently posed as pharmacists by elevating their title and credentials within the pharmacy’s prescription software system. Lal and his co-conspirator then used these elevated titles to verify prescriptions, which they then submitted to health care benefit programs and pharmaceutical suppliers for payment.

The various schemes resulted in health care benefit programs losing more than $3.5 million. Lal is scheduled to be sentenced on February 21, 2021, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger, Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Special Agent in Charge Maureen R. Dixon, FBI Washington Field Office Criminal Division Special Agent in Charge James A. Dawson, and Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s Mid-Atlantic Field Office Acting Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dillard made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Monika Moore, Carina A. Cuellar, and Jamar K. Walker are prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:20-cr-237.

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