Williamsville Doctor Sentenced On Prescription Drug Charge

CONTACT:      Barbara Burns
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BUFFALO, N.Y.- Acting U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Dr. Yusuf Siddiqui, 72, of Williamsville, NY, who was convicted of obtaining controlled substances by fraud, was sentenced to one year probation by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Astorga, who handled the case, stated that on October 13, 2016, the defendant, a physician licensed to practice medicine in the State of New York, wrote prescriptions for hydrocodone, a Schedule II controlled substance, and clonazepam, a Schedule IV controlled substance, to a patient that he had not examined. Siddiqui wrote the prescriptions with the expectation that he would receive a portion of the prescribed medication for his personal use. The defendant wrote the prescriptions at the request of the patient’s daughter whom Siddiqui knew was addicted to pain medication. The patient’s daughter was also a former employee of the defendant.

On October 13, 2016, Siddiqui picked the patient’s daughter up from her residence and gave her seven hydrocodone and seven clonazepam pills. Later that same day, the defendant drove the patient’s daughter to a pharmacy where she had the prescriptions filled. When the patient’s daughter returned to the car, Siddiqui asked her to return the hydrocodone pills that he had given her earlier in the day. The patient’s daughter asked the defendant if he wanted more pills and he responded, “Yes” and took 30 hydrocodone pills.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge James J. Hunt, New York Field Division.