MA Psychiatrist Rahim Shafa Indicted a Second Time on Drug, Money Laundering Charges

July 9, 2021

LEXINGTON, MA — A Lexington doctor and his wife, who works as his office manager were charged Thursday in a superseding indictment in connection with an international money laundering scheme involving importing illegal, misbranded drugs.

Rahim Shafa, 64, and Nahid "Nina" Tormosi Shafa, 63, were both indicted on health care fraud conspiracy and international money laundering conspiracy.

According to the press release, Shafa was a psychiatrist who owned Novel Psychopharmacology, for which Tormosi Shafa served as office manager. From April 2016 through January 2019, the Shafas allegedly filed false and fraudulent Medicare reimbursement claims that they deposited into bank accounts they operated.

From approximately January 2008 through January 2018, Shafa and Tormosi Shafa took part in an international money laundering scheme to purchase naltrexone pellet implants and injections from Hong Kong.

Naltrexone and disulfiram are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in certain forms for the treatment of alcohol and opioid dependence.

However, the forms that Shafa and Tormosi Shafa allegedly were using are not approved by the FDA. Shafa allegedly forged shipping documents to conceal the items that were not FDA approved from Hong Kong to Shafa in Massachusetts.

Packages containing naltrexone pellet implants were falsely declared as 'plastic beads in plastic tubes' in shipping documents, according to the press release. Shafa and Tormosi Shafa offered to sell these non-FDA-approved drugs to patients of Novel.

The defendants were previously indicted in August 2020.

Source: “Lexington Doctor And Wife Charged In Money Laundering Scheme,” Lexington, MA Patch, July 9, 2021, URL: https://patch.com/massachusetts/lexington/lexington-doctor-wife-charged-money-laundering-scheme