Doctors charged with conspiracy, money laundering, in Birmingham 'pill mill'

Four people, including two doctors, have been indicted on federal charges for a $7.8 million fraud conspiracy at a Birmingham clinic investigators called a "pill mill."

The 44-count indictment was issued March 30. It charges Dr. Patrick Emeka Ifediba; his wife, Dr. Uchenna Grace Ifediba; Patrick Ifediba's sister Ngozi Justina Ozuligbo; and Clement Essien Ebio with the health care fraud conspiracy. The defendants face other charges separately.

The indictment was unsealed after Patrick Ifediba's arrest, and was announced Wednesday by U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr., and Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge Bret Hamilton.

The charges all stem from the defendants' association with Care Complete Medical Clinic- a private clinic located at 1300 Bessemer Road- that provided allergy and pain management services. The indictment states the four people stole millions of dollars from several health care programs by billing for fraudulent treatments and services conducted at the clinic. Uchenna Ifediba is charged with one count of false statements in connection with those fake bills, the indictment said.

Patrick and Uchenna Ifediba also are charged as part of a drug distribution conspiracy, as the U.S. Attorney's office said the couple wrote prescriptions for opioid painkillers for no purpose other than financial gain. The pair also is charged with one count of maintaining drug-involved premises for operating the clinic as a pill mill, records state.

Patrick Ifediba also faces 14 counts, and his wife five counts, of unlawful distribution of controlled substances.

Patrick Ifediba and Ozuligbo are also charged in a money laundering conspiracy. The indictment states the siblings moved funds made from the clinic's fraud and pill mill schemes to other accounts, in order to hide the money.

In that scheme, Patrick Ifediba faces an additional three counts of concealment money laundering, and four counts of engaging in monetary transactions in criminally derived property valued at more than $10,000. Uchenna Ifediba is charged with three, and Ozuligbo with one count, of concealment money laundering.

Town said in the announcement that the opioid crisis kills thousands of people every year. "Physicians who pocket millions while taking advantage of patients, many of whom are addicted to opioids, and unnecessarily drive up health care costs for both patients and insurance providers, knowingly sacrifice the efficacy of care for greed...Physicians who engage in this illicit practice will soon be trading their white coats for prison stripes."

Sharp added, "The FBI and our partners will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who violate their Hippocratic Oath for greed and needlessly destroy lives, families and communities."

"DEA has dedicated an entire enforcement group to investigating drug dealers who hide behind medical degrees in the state of Alabama, and as long as we have doctors in this state who base their decisions on profits versus best medical care, we will continue to do so," Hamilton said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mohammad Khatib is prosecuting the case. He said the conduct of the four people charged "is not only anti-medicine; it is a crime for which justice demands a serious response." Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Weil is also prosecuting. The FBI and DEA investigated the case.

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