Pharmacist’s decade of fraud and COVID-19 misconduct costs him his license
A pharmacist who took over his brother’s troubled business in 2010 has now lost his professional license. The decision follows years of fraud, including fake prescriptions and improper COVID-19 testing. Authorities confirmed the revocation in 2022 after multiple investigations exposed widespread misconduct.
The case began in 2010 when the pharmacist acquired his brother’s pharmacy, already under investigation for billing fraud. Instead of correcting the practices, he continued the scheme for at least three years. Investigators later uncovered 65 instances of fraud, with losses exceeding €1.6 million. The pharmacist admitted to billing insurers for prescriptions he never dispensed and sharing the profits with patients.
He claimed to have stopped the fraud in December 2013, before learning of any official probes. By 2015, regulators considered suspending his license but chose to wait until criminal proceedings concluded. Meanwhile, the pharmacist introduced a compliance system in his pharmacies and settled with affected insurers. However, the court dismissed these efforts as insignificant compared to the severity of his crimes. In 2021, further irregularities emerged: COVID-19 tests were conducted improperly, and hygiene standards fell short. The Frankfurt Administrative Court ruled that his actions showed clear criminal intent and had severely damaged public trust in pharmacists. Despite his later reforms, the court upheld the licensing authority’s decision to revoke his license in 2022.
The pharmacist’s license was officially removed after a decade of legal and regulatory scrutiny. His fraudulent activities, combined with later hygiene failures, led to the final decision. No records indicate his license was revoked earlier, despite the long history of misconduct.
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