A federal jury in the Southern District of Florida found Olushola Yusuf, 60 years old, a licensed pharmacist and owner of two pharmacies in the southern part of the state, guilty of illegally distributing more than 335,000 oxycodone pills to customers who did not have a medical need for the medication.
According to the announcement from the Department of Justice, Yusuf, a resident of Tampa, was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute drugs illegally and five additional counts of illegal drug distribution.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 14, 2026, and he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the six charges.
A business built on warning signs
Yusuf was the owner and operator of two establishments: Boots LLC d/b/a Striderite, in Margate; and Chans Pharmacy Plus, Inc., in Pembroke Pines, both located in Broward County.
During the trial, evidence was presented that the accused was dispensing 30 milligram oxycodone—the maximum available dosage of the drug, typically reserved for patients with severe conditions such as chronic pain from cancer or traumatic injuries—to nearly all of her clients.
To do this, he charged approximately 10 times the usual price of the medication and required payments exclusively in cash.
Some customers paid up to $1,000 a month for the medications.
The federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Florida, Jason A. Reding Quiñones, was firm in describing the modus operandi of the accused:
"Olushola Yusuf not only ignored the warning signs but built his business around them. He deliberately flooded the communities of South Florida with over 335,000 high-dose oxycodone pills, even after his employees and the DEA warned him about the risks of his actions."
Closed doors and traffickers as clients
The evidence presented in the trial revealed details that illustrate the scale of the scheme.
Yusuf kept the doors of his pharmacies locked during business hours and only allowed entry to certain identified customers.
Some of those clients were drug traffickers who picked up pills supposedly on behalf of dozens of patients who were not present.
Others traveled long distances from various points in Florida because they could not fill those prescriptions at any other pharmacy.
The accused continued these practices even after receiving repeated warnings from both her employees and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The authorities react
The Associate Attorney General of the National Fraud Division of the Department of Justice, Colin M. McDonald, emphasized the significance of the conviction.
"The accused abused the public's trust by using her pharmacies to illegally distribute deadly opioids. This conviction sends a clear message: whether you distribute drugs on a street corner or from behind a pharmacy counter, the Fraud Division will hold you fully accountable under the law," she stated.
The head of Operations at the DEA, Matthew W. Allen, added that the accused "abandoned that responsibility, exploited addiction, and put lives at risk for personal gain."
The Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI, Christopher Raia, stated that Yusuf "demonstrated a clear disregard for his community and endangered countless residents who should have been able to trust their pharmacist."
A co-defendant and a broader context
Yusuf's co-defendant, Saman Giménez, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute drugs illegally and will also be sentenced in October.
The case was investigated by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG), the FBI, and the DEA, and is part of the historic operation against healthcare fraud announced by the Department of Justice in June, involving 455 defendants and over $6.5 billion in false claims related to Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers.
Since 2007, the Department of Justice's Healthcare Fraud Working Group Program has charged more than 6,200 individuals who billed over 45 billion dollars in fraudulent claims to federal health programs and private insurers.
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