On March 9, Mohamed Mokbel and Fathy Elsafty were indicted in the Southern District of Texas were charged with conspiracy to commit a health care pharmacy fraud scheme. Mokbel is the owner of several retail pharmacies, while Elsafty is his accountant. 4M Pharmaceuticals Inc., the parent company for Mokbel's pharmacies operated an outbound telemarketing call center that solicited Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurance patients nationwide. 4M Pharmaceuticals call center employees offered patients medically unnecessary diabetic supplies and topical creams, and although many refused the solicitations, the employees billed the patients’ insurance plans anyway. The scheme also allegedly targeted doctors which were sent requests for prescriptions that patients often did not authorize. The indictment alleges that from Dec. 13, 2013, through March 3, 2020, 4M pharmacies collectively received over $134 million in payments from Medicare and other healthcare benefit programs based on fraudulent claims.