Ndubuisi Joseph Okafor, MD, 65, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for illegally distributing prescriptions for narcotics in exchange for cash from his Northwest Washington DC medical clinic. In addition to the 18-year prison term, he was ordered to serve three years of supervised release to pay a special assessment, and to forfeit $213,173.97. According to court documents and evidence at trial, between May 2021 and April of 2023, Okafor was the sole practitioner and owner of Okafor Medical Associates, an internal medicine clinic in Northwest, Washington, DC. The US Attorney’s Office, the HHS-OIG, and FBI began investigating Okafor for illegal distribution of controlled substances after it received information from law enforcement agencies nationwide regarding prescriptions from Okafor being connected to local drug trafficking networks. Between Feb. 18, 2022, and Nov. 30, 2022, the FBI sent confidential sources and undercover agents into Okafor’s medical practice for walk-in appointments. Each individual was prescribed opioids by Okafor after minimal examination.
Further investigation revealed that Okafor was operating a nationwide drug distribution scheme, whereby he would prescribe opioids to numerous individuals using false identities, whom Okafor knew to be diverting the medication. Okafor’s conduct spanned at least 45 states and resulted in hundreds of thousands of units of oxycodone and promethazine with codeine liquid prescribed nationwide. Okafor was convicted of distribution of opioids to undercover sources, numerous uncharged co-conspirators, and to a civilian patient J.V. Okafor was also convicted of conspiracy and maintaining a drug-involved premises. Evidence at trial further established that, after Okafor was notified by the DC Board of Health that J.V.’s family member filed a complaint against him, he created backdated medical records for J.V. to justify his prescribing. The investigation also resulted in the suspension of Okafor’s DEA registration number in September 2023 as he was deemed to be a threat to public health and safety.