Pharmacy Owner Pleads Guilty in Opioid Scheme

Michael Paulsen is facing up to 14 years behind bars after pleading guilty on March 23, 2021 in Manhattan federal court to narcotics conspiracy.

Manhattan federal prosecutors said Paulsen, who owned Regal Remedies on Olympia Boulevard, headed an oxycodone distribution ring between March 2016 and September 2019.

According to the allegations in the Indictment:

From approximately March 2016 to September 2019, Paulsen, who owned and operated a pharmacy in Staten Island, conspired with others to unlawfully distribute thousands of oxycodone pills to individuals who Paulsen knew had no legitimate medical need for them, in exchange for lucrative cash payments.

In total, during that period, Paulsen ordered for his pharmacy more than 170,000 oxycodone pills from pharmaceutical suppliers. However, during the same period, Paulsen’s pharmacy dispensed approximately only 62,000 of those oxycodone pills with a prescription, or slightly more than one-third of the oxycodone pills that were ordered.

Paulsen instead distributed significant quantities of oxycodone pills to the pharmacy’s customers, including his co-conspirators, who either did not have a prescription or had fraudulent prescriptions, in exchange for thousands of dollars. Paulsen knew that at least some of those oxycodone pills would be resold at the street level. Paulsen is not a registered pharmacist and is not authorized to distribute controlled substances such as oxycodone in New York State.

While operating his pharmacy, and in connection with his unlawful distribution of oxycodone pills, Paulsen also perpetrated a scheme to defraud Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurance providers. Paulsen instructed customers of his pharmacy to order particular products that were not medically necessary. Paulsen then billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurance providers for reimbursements for those products, and provided a portion of those reimbursements as financial compensation to the customers.