A nurse practitioner, Alexander Istomin, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for committing health care fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and introducing misbranded drugs into interstate commerce. According to U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha, Istomin stole almost $12 million by submitting fake claims for services he never performed at a fake office located in East Greenwich. The patients that he claimed to have met with were found to be out of the country at the time of the supposed visits, and Istomin himself was out of the country during some instances. Additionally, he waived copayments for some Medicare patients to keep them quiet and distributed prescription drugs to people other than those whose names the prescriptions were filled. Istomin has been fined $30,000 and must pay the $11,923,686.30 stolen in restitution. FBI Boston Division Special Agent Joseph Bonavolonta has remarked that Istomin’s actions were not his first brush with the law and vowed to fight against healthcare fraud.