Six Individuals, Including a Pharmacist and Doctor, Charged in Connection with $20 Million Healthcare Fraud and Kickback Scheme

NEWARK, N.J. - United States Attorney Robert Frazer announces criminal charges against 6 defendants in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid involving a doctor and other medical professionals issuing medically unnecessary prescriptions to a pharmacist in exchange for cash kickbacks.

"The District of New Jersey remains committed to aggressively rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse committed by doctors, pharmacists, and medical professionals who betray their patients in pursuit of greed. Our Office will continue to ensure that those individuals who bilk our insurance systems to line their pockets with taxpayer dollars face swift justice."

- U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer

"Each of the defendants had a unique role in this alleged scheme, but the common thread is a complete disrespect for the Medicare and Medicaid programs that so many Americans rely on," said Newark Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy. "The defendants defrauded these programs through kickbacks that lined their pockets, while over $20 million taxpayer dollars were quietly disappearing. The FBI will continue to root out conspiracies to commit health care fraud and restore balance to a system that will not be shaken by these disrupters."

The following individuals were charged by Information in the District of New Jersey on July 7, 2026 and appeared before Judge Karen M. Williams in federal district court in Camden in connection with the scheme:

• Sherif Elmasri, 45, of Morganville, New Jersey, pled guilty to a two-count Information charging him with conspiring to commit health care fraud and to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute on June 16, 2025.
• Boris Veysman, 48, of Freehold, New Jersey, pled guilty to a two-count Information charging him with conspiring to commit health care fraud and unlawfully distribute controlled substances on June 17, 2025.
• Stephanie Cupo, 45, of South Plainfield, New Jersey, pled guilty to an Information charging her with conspiring to make false statements relating to health care matters and to use a Drug Enforcement Administration registration number issued to another person on January 7, 2026.
• Nikki Steidle, 53, of Toms River, New Jersey, pled guilty to an Information charging her with conspiring to defraud the United States, solicit and receive kickbacks, offer and pay kickbacks, and unlawfully distribute controlled substances on June 30, 2026.
• Janet Tadros, 59, of Union City, New Jersey, pled guilty to a two-count Information charging her with conspiring to commit health care fraud and to violate the Anti-Kickback statute on July 7, 2026.

Additionally, Ashlee Maixner, 39, of Lakehurst, New Jersey, was charged by indictment with conspiracy to defraud the United States, solicit and receive kickbacks, offer and pay kickbacks, unlawfully distribute controlled substances, and two counts of soliciting and receiving a kickback. Maixner was arraigned before Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa in Newark on June 25, 2026, and pled not guilty.

According to documents filed in these cases and statements made in court:

From October 2022 to November 2025, Elmasri, a pharmacy owner, paid illegal kickbacks and bribes to several health care providers in exchange for them issuing prescriptions for high-reimbursement medications, which Elmasri selected, to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. Elmasri personally profited from these prescriptions and the insurance claims it generated for his pharmacies.

One of the providers involved in the scheme was Dr. Boris Veysman, an emergency medicine doctor with offices in New Jersey. Elmasri paid Veysman to issue prescriptions recommended by Elmasri to Medicare beneficiaries Elmasri referred to Veysman from from approximately May 2023 to December 2024. Veysman, at times, did not examine the patients prior to issuing the prescriptions. Maixner and Steidle were advanced practice nurses who worked for Veysman and are also alleged to have received illegal kickbacks from Elmasri for issuing prescriptions. Cupo also worked for Veysman and submitted prior authorizations with false information to increase the likelihood that the prior authorizations she prepared would be approved by Medicare and other health care benefit programs.

Separately, Janet Tadros was the office manager of a neurology practice in Jersey City, New Jersey, who, from between December 2023 and November 2025, solicited and received cash kickbacks of approximately $3,000 per week in exchange for sending Elmasri's pharmacies medically unnecessary prescriptions for patients who were not evaluated nor prescribed the medications and that were sent without the provider's knowledge or authorization.

In total, the defendants are alleged to have caused a loss of approximately $20,684,264 to Medicare and Medicaid.

Veysman, Steidle, and Maixner are separately charged with allegedly conspiring to unlawfully distribute controlled substances to patients without assessing them.

The charges of conspiracy carry a statutory maximum of five years imprisonment as well as a maximum fine equal to twice the gross gain or twice the gross loss caused by the offense. The charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and violations of the Anti-Kickback statute each carry a statutory maximum of ten years imprisonment.

U.S. Attorney Frazer credited special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Naomi Gruchacz, and special agents, task force officers, and diversion investigators with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New Jersey Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Towanda R. Thorne-James.

The Department of Justice has established the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The core mission of the National Fraud Enforcement Division is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. The National Fraud Enforcement Division will fulfill that mission by coordinating with agencies responsible for administering benefit programs; partnering with federal, tribal, state, territorial, and local law enforcement on fraud-fighting efforts; developing systems and processes that ensure efficient identification of fraud against taxpayer dollars; and equipping prosecutors and law enforcement with state-of-the-art tools and resources needed to bring criminal actors to justice. The attorneys in the National Fraud Enforcement Division will work every day to protect the financial integrity of our government and the tax system that supports it.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jake A. Nasar of the Healthcare Fraud Unit in Newark and Trial Attorneys Nicholas Peone, Paul J. Koob, and Kraig Ahalt of the Department of Justice's Fraud Section. Valuable assistant in the investigation was provided by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica R. Ecker of the Northern District of Illinois.

The charges and allegations contained in the Indictment against Maixner are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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Defense counsel:

Ryan M. Magee, Esq. for Sherif Elmasri.

Benjamin Brafman, Esq. for Boris Veysman.

James A. Abate, Esq. for Stephanie Cupo.

Julian Wilsey, Esq. for Nikki Steidle.

Timothy S. Farrow, Esq. for Ashlee Maixner.

Kathleen Theurer Platts, Esq. for Janet Tadros.