The owner of two Queens pharmacies was taken into custody on charges he bilked Medicaid in a $31 million drug-buyback scheme involving HIV prescriptions, the New York attorney general’s office said on Wednesday.
Miguel Baron allegedly prescribed HIV medications to Medicaid patients at Guardiola Pharmacy and Baron Specialty Pharmacy in Jackson Heights, according to a statement from the AG’s office.
According to the attorney general’s office, Baron then persuaded customers to sell their pills back to him so he could re-prescribe them, or he filled their prescriptions with cheaper drugs obtained on the illicit market.
The fraud allegedly resulted in $31 million in stolen monies from Medicaid and the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
“Pharmacy owners who exploit patients with medication buyback schemes endanger New Yorkers’ health,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
James further stated, “My office will continue to protect patients, shut down Medicaid fraud schemes, and hold criminals accountable to ensure that our tax dollars are not lining scammers’ pockets.”
Baron could not be reached for comment, and no attorney was mentioned in court filings.
According to the attorney general’s office, Baron laundered monies from his Medicaid fraud through shell companies, which he and his colleagues used to fund building projects, buy Miami residences, and purchase expensive cars and World Cup tickets.
According to an indictment filed in New York State Supreme Court in Queens in September and unsealed Wednesday, Baron faces 24 charges, including grand larceny, healthcare fraud and money laundering.
Also on Wednesday, the state attorney general filed a civil asset forfeiture action against Baron to take the property he allegedly acquired with stolen Medicaid monies. The attorney general’s office is seeking more than $95 million in damages.
Prosecutors have previously clamped down on other similar organizations. In 2024, a Brooklyn man was sentenced to nine years in prison for distributing illegal HIV medications to pharmacies for years.
The New York Attorney General’s Office extradited another individual from Pakistan in 2021 and charged him with fraud for allegedly collaborating with many coconspirators to buy HIV medications back from Medicaid patients in the Bronx.
The attorney general’s office stated that Baron was apprehended at LaGuardia Airport in June while attempting to flee to Canada.
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