United States v. Griffin

A federal grand jury in the Middle District of Florida returned a 31-count indictment on October 29, 2026, charging Charlie Bernard Griffin III, owner and operator of First Coast Community Development, Inc. (FCCD), a Jacksonville-licensed pharmacy, with health care fraud conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 1349), payment of illegal kickbacks (42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b)(2)(A)), and money laundering conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 1956(h)), along with 21 substantive money laundering counts (18 U.S.C. § 1957). Accountant Ethelbert Chinenye Nwanegbo is charged in the money laundering conspiracy and seven substantive money laundering counts. The indictment alleges that beginning in or about November 2023 and continuing through in or about July 2025, Griffin contracted with a marketing company that deployed representatives to low-income areas of Jacksonville to operate tents and tables offering free government-sponsored cell phones. While collecting identifying information for the cell phone offer, marketing representatives simultaneously obtained health insurance information. FCCD paid the marketing company $200 per person whose insurance claim was subsequently paid by Medicare, Medicaid, or a private insurer; marketing representatives received $50 per paid referral. The indictment alleges that FCCD used the collected insurance information to generate prescriptions for HIV post-exposure prophylactic medications authorized by a nurse practitioner who had never seen, spoken with, or performed any evaluation, examination, or test on the recipients. FCCD falsely applied diagnosis codes reflecting HIV exposure or sexually transmitted disease to ensure claim payment, then billed Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers. The indictment alleges the scheme caused submission of tens of thousands of fraudulent claims resulting in approximately $51,125,806 in total reimbursements, of which Griffin personally received approximately $14,245,474. For the money laundering counts, the indictment alleges that from approximately April 2024 through November 2025, Griffin funneled fraud proceeds through multiple VyStar Credit Union, JPMorgan Chase, and PNC Bank accounts held by FCCD and his affiliated entity 224 Management, Inc., then transferred funds to Nwanegbo's companies (I2S Matrix LLC and Powerhouse Anchor Management Consulting, Inc.). Nwanegbo allegedly returned the proceeds to Griffin and a co-conspirator via re-transfers and cash payments, retaining a money laundering fee of approximately 10%. The forfeiture allegations seek at least $14,245,474 from Griffin on the fraud count, at least $17,807,628.14 from Griffin on the money laundering counts, and at least $6,068,540.50 from Nwanegbo, plus numerous seized bank accounts, three real properties in Jacksonville, and four vehicles.