NY AG charges Queens pharmacy owner Miguel Baron in an alleged $31M Medicaid scheme.

An indictment and an airport arrest are process. They are not a conviction, and no plea is described in the accounts used here. The AG's office alleges Baron paid cash kickbacks, bought back HIV medications, billed Medicaid and ADAP for drugs not properly dispensed, and moved proceeds through shell companies into Miami real estate, luxury cars, and World Cup tickets. Those are the government's accusations. A Queens grand jury returned the indictment. A trial court has not decided guilt.

The New York Attorney General's Office announced on Oct. 7, 2026, that Miguel Baron, 62, of Yonkers, was arrested and indicted over an alleged scheme that stole more than $31 million from Medicaid and the AIDS Drug Assistance Program. Gothamist reported the same announcement and said the indictment was filed in New York State Supreme Court in Queens in September and unsealed Wednesday. The AG's release said Baron was arrested at LaGuardia Airport as he attempted to board a one-way flight to Toronto. Gothamist reported the LaGuardia arrest occurred in June. An arrest timing difference between outlets is a records conflict. It is not an element of the charges.

According to the AG's office, from Jan. 1, 2023, to April 29, 2026, Baron and alleged co-conspirators encouraged Medicaid recipients to fill HIV prescriptions at Guardiola Pharmacy and Baron Specialty Pharmacy by paying cash kickbacks, often between $150 and $250, and in some cases bought medications back for a few hundred dollars while the pharmacies received thousands in reimbursement. The release alleges medications were returned to inventory and redispensed, or that black-market medications were dispensed while Medicaid and ADAP were billed for legitimate HIV drugs. Gothamist summarized the same buyback and black-market substitute theory. Those are charging allegations. They are not findings that any named patient was harmed in a civil or criminal judgment.

The AG's office said a Queens County grand jury indicted Baron and his companies on two counts of grand larceny in the first degree, fourteen counts of health care fraud in the first degree, two counts of health care fraud in the second degree, two counts of unlawfully paying kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries, three counts of money laundering in the first degree, and one count of money laundering in the second degree. If convicted on the top count, the release said, he faces a maximum of eight and one-third to 25 years in prison. The office also filed a civil asset forfeiture action seeking more than $95 million in damages and described alleged purchases of Miami-area condominiums, a Mercedes-Benz, a Lexus, and 2026 FIFA World Cup tickets. The AG's release states the charges are merely accusations and that the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.