A former Houston pharmacy owner was convicted on Tuesday of defrauding Medicare out of $160 million by submitting claims for medically unnecessary drugs using patient information that he illegally obtained.
The panel of 12 jurors delivered its verdict after deliberating for about five hours. Mohamed Mokbel was found guilty on all 15 counts he faced, including healthcare fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.
Prosecutors at first charged in their indictment that Mokbel had stolen $140 million from Medicare . But in the time that elapsed since the filing, the prosecutors said they had uncovered evidence that Mokbel had pocketed $20 million more than originally believed…