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Financial true crime • authority abuse
CASE FILE Case 4

Steven King — The Crooked Compliance Officer

Steven King was a chief compliance officer — the person paid to stop fraud before it happens. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, King (of Miramar, Florida) served as the compliance executive for A1C Holdings LLC, a pharmacy holding company tied to multiple pharmacies across the United States. Prosecutors said the operation billed Medicare more than $50 million for lidocaine and diabetic testing supplies that Medicare beneficiaries did not need or want. The scheme relied on concealment tactics — including how pharmacies were enrolled, how refills were shipped, and how patients were moved between locations — all designed to keep profitable claims flowing while evading tighter oversight.

Key Facts

Role / Authority
Chief Compliance Officer (pharmacy holding company)
Category
Healthcare Fraud / Medicare Billing
Entity
A1C Holdings LLC (pharmacy holding company)
Pharmacy example named publicly
All American Medical Pharmacy (Warren, Michigan)
What Medicare was billed for
Lidocaine and diabetic testing supplies described as medically unnecessary and unwanted by beneficiaries.
Alleged concealment tactics
Enrolling mail-order pharmacies as “brick-and-mortar” retail, shipping refills without patient consent, concealing ownership, and transferring patients between pharmacies without consent.
Case amount (publicly stated)
Over $50 million in false and fraudulent claims submitted to Medicare.
Outcome (conviction / sentence)
Convicted by a federal jury (June 8, 2023). Sentenced (November 16, 2023) to 4 years and 6 months in prison, and ordered to pay $21.7 million in restitution.

How it worked

The public case summary describes a Medicare billing operation built around high-reimbursing items (lidocaine and diabetic testing supplies) and a workflow that kept claims moving even when beneficiaries didn’t request the products. The concealment tactics mattered because they helped reduce scrutiny: how the pharmacies were categorized, how refills were shipped, how ownership was masked, and how patients were shuffled between locations to keep billing alive.

Official line (DOJ)

“As chief compliance officer, King was in a unique position to prevent fraud, but used it to defraud Medicare.”

(Paraphrased tightly from DOJ’s public case language for brevity.)

Viewer note

Do not harass or contact people involved. The purpose is understanding the pattern and protecting yourself.