DEA Executes Operation Profit Over Patients to Dismantle Health Care Fraud Networks

July 03, 2025

DEA Executes Operation Profit Over Patients to Dismantle Health Care Fraud Networks

DEA Headquarters

Every day, the women and men of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration work tirelessly across the country and around the world to save lives by protecting the public from dangerous deadly drug threats and from those who look to profit off of others’ pain.

As part of the Department of Justice’s National Health Care Fraud Takedown, an interagency effort to combat health care fraud, DEA announced this week the results of Operation Profit Over Patients, an operation aimed at protecting patients from the harms of reckless doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and others who seek to profit off of vulnerable Americans.

Operation Profit Over Patients, which targeted the illegal distribution of controlled substances by medical professionals, resulted in approximately 51 arrests and 122 criminal charges.

DEA also charged 93 administrative cases seeking the revocation of pharmacies’, medical practitioners’, and companies’ authority to handle and/or prescribe controlled substances.

“Health care fraud isn’t just theft—it’s trafficking in trust. Today’s announcement shows that when doctors become drug dealers and treatment centers become profit-driven fraud rings, DEA will act,” said DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy. “We’re targeting the entire ecosystem of fraud—from pill mills in Texas to kickback clinics exploiting Native communities. If you abuse your medical license to push poison or pad your pockets, we will hold you accountable.”

DEA’s Operation Profit Over Patients found physicians and others writing unnecessary prescriptions for large amounts of opioids and various combinations of controlled substances to include oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and fentanyl.

In Texas, several individuals, including a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, and others allegedly diverted more than 3 million opioids onto the black market. The case is connected to a pill mill that allegedly sold oxycodone and hydrocodone prescriptions to drug traffickers in exchange for cash. The investigation identified a drug trafficker who recruited individuals to pose as patients, paid cash for the prescriptions at complicit pharmacies, and resold the drugs on the black market. Charges include multiple counts of illegally distributing a controlled substance, and conducting transactions with the proceeds of their drug crimes.
In Florida, an owner/operator of two pharmacies and a patient recruiter allegedly engaged in a scheme to illegally dispense more than 335,000 pills of oxycodone 30mg, which is highly addictive and dangerous, to patients who showed obvious signs of addiction and drug-diversion. Patients and patient recruiters often paid the pharmacies in cash even though they had insurance that covered some or all of the cost of prescription medications. The individuals are charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and five counts each of distributing and dispensing a controlled substance in connection with their roles in a scheme to illegally dispense oxycodone.
In Washington, an anesthesiology resident allegedly secretly took fentanyl, hydromorphone, and other medications over the course of at least a year while working at hospitals in Seattle. He sometimes used the diverted substances while still at the hospital, meaning he was under the influence of potent narcotics while treating patients. He is charged with obtaining controlled substances by fraud in connection with a scheme to divert medications for his own use.
In several investigations, Operation Profit Over Patients uncovered “ghost pharmacies,” which occur when controlled substances are acquired by the use of a legitimate DEA registration and later illegally distributed.

These profiteers of pain represent only a fraction of the medical community, but can inflict severe harm on the individuals, families, and communities they have exploited. By leveraging criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement, DEA continues to protect patients from those who abuse their position for their own personal gain.