Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Hector M. Pesquera, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and David Bourne, Special Agent in Charge, Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigation, announced today that Victor Souaid, formerly a licensed urologist in Lighthouse Point, Florida, was sentenced today in connection with his guilty pleas to an indictment which charged him with 59 counts of health care fraud and the unlawful distribution of prescription drugs. Souaid was sentenced by United States District Court Judge William P. Dimitrouleas to 51 months’ imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $123,549 in restitution to the victims in the case. Judge Dimitrouleas ordered that Souaid be immediately remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal to begin serving his sentence. The defendant had already surrendered his medical license as part of his earlier agreement to plead guilty.

Between July 2000 and November 2001, Souaid treated a number of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer with a powerful anti-cancer drug known as Lupron. While patients would regularly come to Souaid’s office to receive injections of Lupron, the defendant did not administer the full dosages of Lupron to a large number of patients. Nevertheless, the defendant billed the patients and their health insurance carriers as if they were receiving the full and correct Lupron dosages.

Further, the defendant engaged in the unlawful wholesale distribution of Lupron through a series of sales totaling more than $1.5 million. The defendant was not licensed as a wholesale broker at the time of the transactions.

Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Roger H. Stefin and George M. Karavetsos.