JACKSONVILLE, Florida – A federal grand jury has indicted a Jacksonville pharmacy owner and a St. Johns accountant in a health care fraud and money laundering case that prosecutors say cost Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers about $51 million. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced the charges.
61-year-old Charlie Bernard Griffin III of Jacksonville faces a 31-count indictment charging health care fraud and money laundering. 47-year-old Ethelbert Chinenye Nwanegbo of St. Johns is charged in the same indictment with money laundering. Each faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count. An indictment is an accusation, not a finding of guilt.
How prosecutors say the scheme worked
According to the indictment, Griffin owned First Coast Community Development, known as FCCD, which operated a pharmacy in Jacksonville. Griffin agreed with a marketing company owned by Jonathan Gholston to send people to FCCD for HIV post-exposure prophylactic medications.
Marketing representatives set up tents and tables in Jacksonville, generally in low-income areas. They offered free, government-sponsored cellphones to anyone who stopped and gave identifying information. Under the agreement with FCCD, the representatives also collected health insurance information, including whether the person had Medicare, Medicaid or a private insurer.
FCCD agreed to pay the marketing company $200 for each person referred for HIV medications, but only if a claim for that person was paid. The company usually paid its representatives $50 per referral, again only if a claim was paid. The indictment states that paying a marketer per referral based on whether a claim is paid is an illegal kickback.
Prescriptions and false diagnoses
The marketing representatives sent the information to FCCD and its pharmacist, Albert Chester. FCCD used it to generate HIV medication prescriptions authorized by Rashan Jones, a nurse practitioner. According to the indictment, Jones never saw, spoke with, examined or tested the people who received the prescriptions.
To make sure insurers paid, FCCD used a diagnosis code falsely indicating the patients had HIV or a sexually transmitted disease, or had been exposed to one, the indictment says. That false diagnosis was recorded in the patients’ medical records. FCCD filled the prescriptions, billed Medicare, Medicaid or private insurers, and was reimbursed when claims were paid.
Prosecutors say Griffin and his co-conspirators caused tens of thousands of fraudulent claims. Griffin received about $14 million in proceeds, according to the indictment.
Money laundering charges
Nwanegbo was an accountant in Jacksonville. The indictment says Griffin and a co-conspirator moved fraud proceeds into accounts Nwanegbo controlled. Nwanegbo moved some of the money to other accounts he controlled, then returned it to Griffin and the co-conspirator through transfers, deposits into other accounts and cash payments. He kept a laundering fee of about 10%, according to the indictment.
Forfeiture sought
The government is seeking forfeiture of $14,245,474 from Griffin, representing his proceeds from the health care fraud. It also seeks $17,807,628.14, representing property involved in the money laundering offenses he faces.
Prosecutors also want $8,182,800.17 seized from Griffin’s bank accounts, along with three real properties and four vehicles they say he bought with fraud proceeds. From Nwanegbo, the government is seeking $6,068,540.50, representing property involved in the money laundering offenses he faces.
Related cases and jail records
Gholston, Chester and Jones were charged separately earlier. Each agreed to plead guilty, according to the announcement.
Griffin was booked at the Duval County Jail on October 29, 2026. He posted bail and was released the next day while the case moves forward.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the FBI investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier is prosecuting the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Clint Locke is handling the forfeiture.
More local court coverage is available in legal news.