A pharmacist and business owner who engaged in a five-year pharmacy shortage fraud scheme at two separate pharmacies pleaded guilty, announced United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. Mohammad Hamdan, age 44, from Dearborn Heights, Michigan, pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud for a scheme that caused over $3 million in loss to Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. At the hearing, Hamdan admitted to utilizing his two pharmacies to submit false and fraudulent claims for prescriptions even though the prescribed drugs were medically unnecessary or not actually dispensed. In many instances, the pharmacies lacked the inventory to dispense these drugs but billed the healthcare insurers as thought they had been dispensed. Over the five-year scheme, Hamdan submitted or directed the submission of false and fraudulent claims totaling over $3.2 million.