California Pharmacist Sentenced in Health Care Fraud Investigation

Marc Hoang, a pharmacist based in West Covina, California, was sentenced on January 8, 2024, in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, for making a false statement related to a health care fraud investigation. Hoang was sentenced to two years’ probation. Our investigation found that Hoang knowingly and willfully made a materially false and fraudulent statement on a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) form. Hoang submitted the form to the DEA to renew the controlled substances registration for his former pharmacy. On the form, Hoang represented that he was the person who distributed the controlled substances and was the officer and point of contact for the pharmacy, when in fact, he was not. Hoang was part of a large health care fraud scheme, in which beneficiaries were solicited to provide their insurance information to a pharmacist for medication they did not seek or need. As a result of the scheme, Amtrak’s health care plan was billed $32,489 of which $26,962 was paid, and Tricare, the U.S. military’s health care plan, paid $12,264,685 on the fraudulently submitted claims.