A Los Angeles-area doctor who’s one of the most active prescribers of narcotic painkillers in the state was arrested Thursday on federal “structuring” charges that allege he made hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash deposits designed to circumvent federal reporting requirements.
Dr. Washington Bryan II allegedly made more than $400,000 in cash deposits between October 2011 and January 2013 — depositing less than $10,000 each time into four separate accounts for the purpose of preventing banks from reporting the deposits to the federal government, according to a 29-count indictment filed in Los Angeles.
Banks are required to report every cash transaction of more than $10,000.
In conjunction with his arrest, investigators executed federal search warrants at the 47-year-old physician’s Westwood home and Brentwood office, prosecutors said.
The affidavit in support of the search warrants alleges Bryan made a total of $3.8 million in structured cash deposits as far back as December 2007. The affidavit also alleges Bryan structured the cash for the purpose of concealing income he received from thousands of fraudulent prescriptions that he issued for narcotic painkillers and HIV medications.
According to state-collected data, Bryan issued nearly 10,000 controlled drug prescriptions over a three-year period ending in March. According to the affidavit, 86 percent of those prescriptions were for oxycodone — commonly known by the brand name OxyContin — and oxymorphone, which is also known by the brand name Opana.
Since 2006, Medicare has paid more money to pharmacies to cover Bryan’s narcotic drug prescriptions — $7.8 million — than for any other prescribing doctor in California, and he outpaced the next-highest prescriber by more than $1.6 million, federal officials said.
“The federal structuring statute was designed to prevent criminals from hiding their illicit proceeds from scrutiny,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “In this case, the defendant will now be held accountable for his attempt to hide millions of dollars made from excessive and highly-suspicious narcotic drug prescriptions.”
If convicted of the 29 counts in the indictment, Bryan would face up to 145 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
— Wire reports