(WNY News Now) HARRISBURG, PANINE — A $20 million Medicaid and Medicare fraud conspiracy allegedly coordinated through Broad Street Family Pharmacy, a pharmacy in South Philadelphia, has led to charges against individuals.
HARRISBURG — Attorney General Michelle Henry charged nine people in connection with a $20 million Medicaid and Medicare fraud scheme that originated from a small drugstore in South Philadelphia.
Broad Street Family Pharmacy’s registered owner, Elizabeth Thompson, her husband, Peter Dello Buono, who managed day-to-day operations, and pharmacist Frank Bengermino are accused of masterminding the scheme, which took place between 2016 and 2021 and involved false claims for costly prescription drugs to federal benefits programs. The drugstore purportedly paid their customers cash for bringing their prescriptions to the pharmacy, but in practice, they allegedly filled relatively few of the prescriptions.
Paying kickbacks to customers who returned medicines to the drugstore in return for cash and other prescription drugs was another aspect of the plot.
Over $20 million was spent on fraudulent claims, mostly for high-reimbursement HIV drugs, antipsychotics, and Latuda.
In essence, the pharmacy’s owner and operator were posing as prescription fillers for pricey drugs while scamming the Medicaid and Medicare programs of millions of dollars through a complex conspiracy that involved around a dozen co-conspirators, according to Attorney General Henry. Funding intended for Pennsylvanians in need was redirected into the defendants’ pockets as a result of the alleged offenses.
After a combined investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Section, the Fiftieth Statewide Investigating Grand Jury presented the charges.
Michael McCue, 68, of Philadelphia; Christian Bengermino, 36, of Folsom; Frank Bengermino, 70; Frank Buono, 70; Elizabeth Thompson, 70; Berry Davis, 59; Brian O. Hara, 52; and Evan Gusz, 54, of Glenside, are all charged with Medicaid fraud, dealing in unlawful proceeds, theft by deception, conspiracy, and other offenses. Philadelphia resident Angelo Amorosi, 62, is accused of conspiring and trading in criminal proceeds.
In addition, some defendants face charges of violating the Pharmacy Act and the Controlled Substance, Drug, Device, and Cosmetic Act.
Medicaid and Medicare customers might receive services at Broad Street Family Pharmacy thanks to its licensing. Her husband, Dello Buono, ran the drugstore while Thompson owned it, despite the fact that he was not permitted to be a provider under the Medicaid and Medicare benefit programs and that his pharmacist license had already been suspended. In order to get around this, the pharmacy’s managing pharmacist, Frank Bengermino, had a current pharmacist’s license.
Despite the fact that very few of the costly drugs were actually purchased and distributed at the pharmacy, the plan was centered on billing Medicaid and Medicare. In the program, customers who had prescriptions for high-reimbursement drugs were additionally paid illicit kickbacks, mostly in cash, but also in drugs in exchange for selling their prescriptions back to the drugstore. Shortly after agents carried out a search warrant at the drugstore in the fall of 2021, the business stopped operations and shut down.
Latuda and HIV drugs, according to investigators, were responsible for almost 86 percent of the Broad Street Family Pharmacy’s Medicaid billings throughout the five-year period.
Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Mark Levenberg is prosecuting these cases. Until and unless the defendants are found guilty, they are deemed innocent.
75 percent of the financing for the Pennsylvania Medicaid Fraud Control Unit comes from a $12,839,940 grant award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2025. Pennsylvania provides the remaining 25 percent, or $4,279,979 for FY 2025.