Physician Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Operating a Pill Mill from His Northwest D.C. Medical Practice
Investigation also resulted in the revocation of Okafor’s DEA registration number
WASHINGTON -- Ndubuisi Joseph Okafor, M.D., 65, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 18 years in prison for illegally distributing prescriptions for narcotics in exchange for cash from his Northwest Washington D.C. medical clinic.
A jury found Okafor guilty on Mar. 21, 2025, of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances (outside the course of professional practice), maintaining a drug-involved premises, and 22 counts of unlawful distribution of controlled substances (oxycodone and promethazine with codeine).
In addition to the 18-year prison term, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates ordered Okafor 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, D.C. The U.S. 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.
The investigation also resulted in the revocation of Okafor’s DEA registration number in September 2023 as he was deemed to be a threat to public health and safety.
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 D.C. 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 case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations and the District of Columbia Office of the Inspector General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, with valuable assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Washington Division.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and Justice Department gratefully acknowledge the Apex, North Carolina Police Department, the Warsaw, New York, Police Department, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigations, Pennsylvania State Police, State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy, and the Noble County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office for their efforts, support, and cooperation during the investigation and trial.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Meredith Mayer-Dempsey, Trial Attorney Kathryn Furtado and paralegals Rebecca Walton, Dillon Clark, and Matthew McClarnon of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section. The team also extends its deep appreciation to Michael Goodrich, Lead Travel Analyst of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section.
