NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A Brooklyn man pleaded guilty on Monday for running a years-long scheme to defraud Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance companies out of at least $20 million, prosecutors said.
Boris Aminov, 47, and 10 other people were charged two separate indictments unsealed in March and October that detail a scheme to defraud insurance companies of millions of dollars through the trafficking of black-market HIV medication.
Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Aminov "orchestrated a scheme to get rich by lying to Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance companies and by depriving vulnerable HIV patients of legitimate and safe medications."
"Aminov also made millions of dollars through buying and distributing black-market HIV medications to pharmacies all over New York City," Williams continued in a statement. "This Office will be tireless in its pursuit of those who seek to line their pockets by preying on vulnerable members of society."
The fraud operation ran from 2017 through 2023 and exploited hundreds of low-income individuals prescribed HIV medication and put the health and safety of these patients at risk, according to the indictment.
Aminov was active in distributing these black-market medications to pharmacies run by his co-conspirators in New York. Patients received these medications, believing them to be real.
To cover up the earnings, Aminov and his accomplices funneled money through bank accounts linked to their pharmacies into shell companies they controlled.
Aminov pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in prison.