13 arrested in pill-mill bust involving Brooklyn medical clinics

The Drug Enforcement Agency arrested doctors, nurses and a former state Assemblyman in connection with a pill-mill takedown that involved Brooklyn medical clinics.

Prosecutors say three Brooklyn clinics placed 6.3 million narcotic pills onto the black market and billed $16 million in fraudulent reimbursement from Medicaid and Medicare. According to prosecutors, the clinics were run by Dr. Lazar Feygin. The takedown was all part of "Operation Avalanche."

Federal prosecutors say the pills on the black market sold for approximately $30 per pill. Prosecutors say patients were supplied with prescriptions of oxycodone but also had to submit to unnecessary medical tests that were then billed to Medicare and Medicaid.

Former state Assemblyman Alec Brook Krasny was busted in "Operation Avalanche." Prosecutors say he owns a company that would test blood and urine samples provided by the three medical clinics. They say results were fabricated so doctors could write additional bogus prescriptions.

The clinics run by Dr. Feygin now have signs posted outside by the state Department of Health listing resources for patients to get help with opioid addiction.