Date: May 21, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
A Texas man was sentenced on Monday to 19 years in prison for unlawfully conspiring to distribute millions of opioid pills and aiding the falsification of tax records.
According to court documents, Christopher Obaze, of Houston, Texas, was the owner and pharmacist-in-charge of Chrisco Pharmacy. Obaze and his co-conspirators operated Chrisco Pharmacy as an illegal “ghosting pharmacy,” purchasing pharmaceutical opioids and other commonly abused prescription drugs from wholesalers and then selling them in bulk to drug traffickers, without involving physicians, patients, or prescriptions. From January 2018 through October 2021, Obaze and his co-conspirators distributed at least 2,268,700 hydrocodone 10-325 mg and oxycodone 30 mg pills as part of the scheme.
The defendant and his pharmacy technician attempted to conceal their illegal activities by reporting no dispensing of the drugs to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy’s prescription monitoring program after July 2018, and by structuring cash deposits and submitting false documents to banks to maintain accounts to hold the proceeds of their unlawful distribution scheme. Obaze also aided and assisted in the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent tax returns to the IRS by understating, among other things, the gross receipts of Chrisco Pharmacy.
“Obaze tried to hide his drug dealing behind his pharmacy degree, license, fake prescriptions and false tax returns, but failed to realize that money always leaves a trail and tax crimes are a felony. When he falsified his tax returns, our special agents were able to open the door into his taxes and financial history, which helped put that drug dealer in prison,” said acting Special Agent in Charge Lucy Tan, of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Houston Field Office. “We are the only law enforcement agency that can investigate tax crimes and that is why we dedicate significant resources to fighting narcotics trafficking by following their money trail.”
Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei for the Southern District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge Lucy Tan of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Houston Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge William Kimbell of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Houston Division made the announcement.
IRS-CI and the DEA investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Drew Pennebaker of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of 9 strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,800 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $30 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.