Physician Sentenced to 14 Years for Opioid Distribution, Health Care Fraud & Money Laundering

A Pennsylvania physician has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison after a jury found he ran a scheme that combined health care fraud, unlawful opioid distribution and extensive money laundering. Neil K. Anand, M.D., 48, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 168 months and ordered to pay more than $2 million in restitution and forfeit in excess of $2 million in illicit proceeds.

Court evidence at trial showed Anand conspired to submit false claims to Medicare, the US Office of Personnel Management, Independence Blue Cross and Anthem for medically unnecessary “Goody Bags” of prescription drugs dispensed by in-house pharmacies he owned. Those false claims produced reimbursements totalling more than $2.4 million. To induce patients to accept the unwanted Goody Bags, Anand unlawfully distributed oxycodone outside the usual course of medical practice and without a legitimate medical purpose, prescribing 20,850 oxycodone tablets for nine patients.

The scheme also involved unauthorised prescribing by unlicensed medical interns, who used blank prescriptions pre-signed by Anand. After federal agents opened their investigation, Anand concealed and moved the proceeds of the fraud, transferring approximately $1.2 million into an account in a relative’s name for the benefit of a minor, conduct that formed the basis for money laundering and unlawful monetary transaction counts.

In April 2025 Anand was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, three counts of health care fraud, one count of money laundering, four counts of unlawful monetary transactions and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. The case was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the Office of Personnel Management Office of Inspector General. Trial attorneys Paul J. Koob, Patrick J. Campbell and Arun Bodapati of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the matter.

This prosecution underscores the Justice Department’s focus on disrupting schemes that combine health care fraud with money laundering and illegal opioid distribution. The Criminal Division’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Programme has for nearly two decades targeted providers who defraud federal and private health programmes, and this conviction reinforces efforts to hold medical professionals to account where they exploit patients and launder illicit proceeds.

Read the press release here.