Husband And Wife “Pill Mill” Operators Sentenced To Prison
TAMPA, Fla. - U.S. District Judge James S. Moody, Jr. today sentenced Warren and Aigoul Gold to 12 months and one day, and six months in federal prison, respectively, for drug trafficking and money laundering charges. The Court also ordered a money judgment in the amount of $713,570 and forfeiture of $61,232 in a bank account, both of which are traceable to proceeds of the offenses. The Golds pleaded guilty on July 24, 2014.
According to court documents, beginning in early 2010, the Golds became the owner-operators of a pain (“Clinic”) located in the Middle District of Florida. As the owner-operators of the Clinic, the Golds organized, managed, operated, maintained, and relocated the Clinic to various locations during 2010. In that time, the Clinic served as a high-volume, cash-only, pill-prescription operation that sometimes handled more than 100 patients in a single day, with a large number of those patients residing out of state, many from Kentucky.
At each of the Clinic’s locations, doctors prescribed patients a similar drug "cocktail," consisting mostly of large amounts of oxycodone and other Schedule II narcotics. The Golds knew that many of the patients were not legitimate pain patients. Rather, most of these “patients” were seeking the oxycodone cocktail to fuel their own addictions or to unlawfully distribute those drugs to other dealers and/or addicts.
The Golds also laundered the unlawful proceeds from the Clinic in a variety of ways, including making cash deposits of less than $10,000 to banks for the purpose of avoiding reporting requirements. Once the proceeds had been deposited, the Golds spent some of those funds in a manner that concealed the unlawful nature of the Clinic. For example, they diverted some of the proceeds in the Clinic’s account into other accounts that were wholly unrelated to the operation of the Clinic. They also used proceeds from the Clinic to promote their pain business. Among other ways, the Golds used profits to pay the doctors cash bonuses based upon the number of patients seen in a given day.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Tampa District Office and the U.S. Marshals Service. It was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
