New York Man Admits Health Care Fraud Scheme for Submitting Falsified Prescriptions to Medicare and Medicaid

NEWARK, N.J. to A New York man admitted his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid by submitting falsified prescriptions, U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced today. Thomas Conzo, 49, of Staten Island, New York, pleaded guilty today, before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of health care fraud. According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court: Defendant Thomas Conzo owned and operated Elite Pharmacy, a specialty pharmacy located in Linden, New Jersey. From August 2022 through March 2023, Conzo submitted hundreds of thousands of dollars of fraudulent claims for prescriptions to health care benefit programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, on behalf of Elite Pharmacy. Conzo used the credentials of pharmacists who did not work at Elite Pharmacy or otherwise review, sign, or authorize those prescriptions. The charge of health care fraud is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross profit or loss caused by the offense, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for December 4, 2025. U.S. Attorney Habba credited special agents of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark, under the direction of Inspector in Charge Christopher A. Nielsen, Philadelphia Division; special agents of the Internal Revenue Service to Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer Piovesan in Newark; and special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy, with the investigation leading to the charges. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney George Brandley of the Health Care Fraud and Opioids Enforcement Unit in Newark. ### Defense counsel: Maria Noto, Esq.

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