HOUSTON, TEXAS – A Houston-area pain clinic owner and a clinic employee who posed as a physician were sentenced to 240 months and 96 months in prison, respectively, today for their roles at a “pill mill” where they and their co-conspirator illegally prescribed hundreds of thousands of doses of opioids and other controlled substances.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbit of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick of the Southern District of Texas and Special Agent in Charge Steven S. Whipple of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Houston Division made the announcement.
Baker Niazi, 49, of Sugarland, Texas, and Muhammad Arif, 62, of Katy, Texas, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett of the Southern District of Texas. Judge Bennett ordered that Niazi pay a fine of $500,000, and also ordered that Niazi forfeit $493,000 and that Arif forfeit $11,423.11. Niazi pleaded guilty in April 2018 to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances, and Arif was convicted at trial in August 2019 of one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense controlled substances and three counts of unlawfully distributing and dispensing controlled substances.
Source: Texas clinic owner heading to prison for illegally prescribing meds / Shore News Network