Feds: 2 Long Islanders charged as part of nationwide health care scheme

Two Long Island men, including a licensed pharmacist, who allegedly billed Medicare and Medicaid for millions of dollars worth of fraudulent claims, were among hundreds criminally charged following a nationwide crackdown, federal officials said.

Mujjahid Huq, 45, of Halesite, has been charged with "three counts of health care fraud, two counts of unlawful monetary transactions, and conspiracy to make false statements in health care matters in connection with a $2.1 million pharmacy fraud scheme," reads a news release from the office of U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr. Huq is a licensed pharmacist who owned pharmacies in Buffalo, Brooklyn and Queens.

Boris Manaev, 45, of Lynbrook has been charged with "health care fraud and unlawful monetary transactions" in connection with an $8.2 million "scheme," the release said. Manaev owned BB Medical Equipment Inc, a supplier with a "small storefront" in Fresh Meadows, Queens, and no national presence, according to a federal complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn.

Huq and Manaev were two of 324 defendants swept up in the Department of Justice’s 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown. The nationwide effort resulted in criminal charges against nearly 100 "doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals," plus other defendants whose alleged schemes aimed to defraud Medicaid, Medicare and other health care programs of more than $14 billion, the federal justice department announced Monday.

Delivering justice

"This record-setting Health Care Fraud Takedown delivers justice to criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking American taxpayers," U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement Monday.

Between January 2018 and December 2023, Huq’s many pharmacies received $2.1 million in reimbursement claims from "Medicare, Medicare drug plan sponsors, Medicaid and Medicaid Managed Care Plans for prescription medications purportedly dispensed ... which were, in fact, never dispensed." according to a complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday. As part of the alleged scheme, Huq and other pharmacy employees are accused of bribing customers with over-the-counter goods, from perfume to MetroCards, to fill prescriptions at their pharmacies.

From April 2022 through November 2024, Manaev submitted fraudulent reimbursement claims to Medicare for durable medical equipment that was "medically unnecessary and/or ... not provided to the Medicare beneficiary," according to a federal complaint filed last month. Despite its small footprint, Manaev’s medical supply storefront claimed to "receive millions of dollars" worth of prescriptions "from medical providers and beneficiaries in all 50 states." In some cases, those who needed supplies and the doctors who issued the prescriptions lived in different states.

When Manaev began receiving notices of complaints regarding his claims in 2023, he allegedly enlisted a coconspirator to establish Xpress Medical Equipment LLC in Lynbrook, which "demonstrated patterns similar" to his own business, the complaint reads.

Of the $8.2 million in claims Manaev submitted, he was paid about $3.1 million, according to the complaint. Medicare paid another $9,000 on the $140,000 in claims submitted by Xpress.

Huq pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in Brooklyn on Thursday, John Marzulli, a spokesperson for the Eastern District, told Newsday in an email. Huq is scheduled to return to court on Sep. 12.

Manaev pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on June 18, Marzulli said. He is expected to appear in court on July 22.

Defense attorneys for Huq and Manaev did not immediately return Newsday's calls seeking comment late Monday.

Huq and Manaev are two of the 15 defendants whose criminal trials resulting from the justice department’s takedown are underway in the Eastern District. Eleven defendants, including several who reside overseas, were swept up in Operation Gold Rush, the "largest health care fraud case by loss amount ever charged by the Department of Justice," Nocella’s release said.

A criminal organization based in Russia "and elsewhere," orchestrated a "health care fraud and money laundering scheme" by purchasing durable medical equipment supply companies, creating fake identities for business owners and submitting more than “$10.6 billion in fraudulent Medicare claims," according to the Eastern District news release.

In a statement, Nocella said: "that is a health care fraud record they will regret setting."