A federal grand jury in Jacksonville, Florida, has indicted pharmacy owner Charlie Bernard Griffin III, 61, on 31 counts of health care fraud and money laundering, and accountant Ethelbert Chinenye Nwanegbo, 47, of St. Johns, on money laundering charges in the same case, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced on Thursday, November 12. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Middle District of Florida
Prosecutors say Griffin owned First Coast Community Development (FCCD), a Jacksonville organization that operated a pharmacy, and that between 2023 and late 2025 the operation submitted tens of thousands of fraudulent claims for HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) medications — preventive drugs normally given for a short period after a possible exposure to HIV — billing Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers approximately $51 million in total.
How the scheme worked, according to the indictment
According to the indictment, Griffin entered into an agreement with a marketing company owned by Jonathan Gholston. The company's representatives set up tents and tables in Jacksonville, generally in low-income areas, and offered free, government-sponsored cellphones to anyone who stopped and agreed to provide identifying information. While collecting the information needed for the free phone, the representatives also obtained each person's health insurance information, including whether they were covered by Medicare, Medicaid or a private insurer.
The payment structure is at the heart of the case. FCCD paid the marketing company $200 for every person referred for HIV medications — but only if an insurer actually paid the claim. The marketing company in turn paid its representatives usually $50 for every referral that resulted in a paid claim. Prosecutors say paying a marketer per referral, based on whether a claim is paid, is an illegal kickback under federal law.
The information gathered at the tents was sent to FCCD and its pharmacist, Albert Chester. Prosecutors say prescriptions were generated and authorized by Rashawn Jones, a nurse practitioner who had never seen, spoken with, or performed any evaluation, examination or test on the people for whom the prescriptions were issued. To make sure the claims were paid, FCCD allegedly used a false diagnosis code indicating that each person had, or had been exposed to, HIV or a sexually transmitted disease — a false diagnosis that was then documented in those people's medical records.
At a news conference on Thursday, U.S. Attorney Gregory Kehoe said investigators interviewed the people who received the medications. "The people that received these medications did not need them and did not want them," Kehoe said. "Virtually all of them said, 'We never asked for it, we never requested it.'" Kehoe also warned that taking prescription medication without a licensed physician's direction can be dangerous, and officials said they do not know how many people actually took the drugs.
Source: Focal News (Jacksonville)
The money trail and the accountant's alleged role
The indictment alleges that after Griffin and a co-conspirator received the fraud proceeds, they transferred and deposited the money into bank accounts controlled by Nwanegbo, a Jacksonville accountant. For some of the proceeds, Nwanegbo allegedly moved the funds between other accounts he controlled, then returned the money to Griffin and the co-conspirator through transfers, deposits and cash payments — after keeping a money laundering fee of approximately 10 percent.
The government is seeking forfeiture of $14,245,474 from Griffin as his alleged health care fraud proceeds and $17,807,628.14 representing property involved in the money laundering offences, including $8,182,800.17 already seized from Griffin's bank accounts, along with three real properties and four vehicles prosecutors say he bought with fraud proceeds. From Nwanegbo, the government is seeking forfeiture of $6,068,540.50.
Griffin is not the only person charged in the wider case. Prosecutors said Gholston, Chester and Jones were each charged separately earlier and have each agreed to plead guilty. Kehoe said Medicare losses totaled about $11.5 million and Medicaid losses about $12.5 million, and that Chester received about $5 million, Gholston about $2 million and Jones more than $400,000. The case is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the FBI, with assistance reported from IRS Criminal Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier, with forfeiture handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clint Locke. Kehoe said the investigation began after members of Jacksonville's medical community raised concerns about the billing.
The case shows how little it can take for a person's health insurance details to be pulled into a billing machine: a name and an insurance card, handed over at a street tent in exchange for a free phone. Federal officials say false HIV-related diagnosis codes were entered into real people's medical records — records that can follow a patient for years. Anyone who signed up for a free phone or received medication they never requested can check their Medicare or insurance statements for claims they do not recognize and report them to their insurer.
What happens next
An indictment is an allegation, not a finding of guilt, and both Griffin and Nwanegbo are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Griffin was booked at the Duval County Jail on October 29, when the indictment was returned, and was released on bail the following day while the case moves forward in federal court in Jacksonville. A plea hearing for pharmacist Albert Chester is scheduled for November 17. If convicted, Griffin and Nwanegbo each face up to 20 years in prison on each count, in addition to the forfeiture orders the government is seeking.