Society · Crime Problem · June 30, 2026

He Billed Medicaid $2.5M for Sick Babies’ Formula, Then Bought a Bentley — and, Prosecutors Say, Left the Children Without It.

On June 29, 2026, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) announced the arrest and indictment of Nduka Lewis Ekpenyong, 36, of Hewlett — a wealthy Five Towns hamlet on Long Island’s South Shore — on charges that he stole more than $2.5 millionfrom Medicaid by billing for a children’s nutritional formula he largely never bought.

According to the indictment, the medical-supply company Ekpenyong owned, Duke Medical, Inc., submitted more than 6,000 Medicaid claims for PediaSure with Peptides — an expensive specialty formula prescribed for children who cannot tolerate standard nutrition — while purchasing only a fraction of the product. The Attorney General says the scheme didn’t just bilk taxpayers: it allegedly cut off real, sick children from the formula their pediatricians had ordered.

The proceeds, prosecutors allege, went to a Bentley, a Range Rover, and the mortgage on a Long Island mansion. The charges are allegations; Ekpenyong is presumed innocent unless and until convicted. This page lays out what the indictment says, who is prosecuting, and how a single Long Island storefront fits inside a Medicaid fraud problem that the federal government measures in the tens of billions of dollars a year.

$2.5M+ — amount Ekpenyong allegedly pocketed from Medicaid through Duke Medical’s false billing, April 13, 2023 to July 15, 2025 · Source: NY AG Letitia James
6,000+ claims — Medicaid claims submitted for PediaSure with Peptides while, per the indictment, the vast majority of the product was never purchased · Source: NY AG
Bentley + Range Rover — luxury cars prosecutors say were bought with the proceeds, along with the mortgage on a Long Island mansion · Source: NY AG; LongIsland.com
Children went without — the OAG says the scheme prevented some families from getting the formula their children’s pediatricians had ordered · Source: NY AG
$7.59M — damages the Attorney General’s civil asset-forfeiture action seeks from Ekpenyong · Source: NY AG press release
8⅓–25 yrs — maximum state-prison sentence on the top count, first-degree grand larceny, if convicted · Source: NY AG

§ 01 / What the Indictment Alleges

The case centers on a single, deceptively boring product code. PediaSure comes in two relevant versions: the standard nutritional supplement, and the much pricier PediaSure with Peptides, a specialty formula for children who cannot digest intact proteins. Medicaid reimburses the peptide version at a far higher rate. According to the Attorney General, Ekpenyong allegedly directed office staff at pediatric practices to alter doctors’ prescriptions for the basic supplement so that he could bill Medicaid for the more expensive, and medically unnecessary, peptide version.

Between April 13, 2023 and July 15, 2025, the indictment alleges, Duke Medical submitted more than 6,000 claims for PediaSure with Peptides — but the company never purchased the vast majority of the product it billed for. The result, prosecutors say, was more than $2.5 million in Medicaid money flowing to a storefront supplier for formula that, in large part, never existed.

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§ 02 / The Children Left Without Formula

The detail that turns this from a routine billing-fraud case into something the Attorney General called a theft from families is the supply chain itself. Because Duke Medical was billing for formula it wasn’t actually buying, the OAG’s investigation found, some families who relied on the company couldn’t get the product their children’s pediatricians had ordered. The fraud, in other words, didn’t float harmlessly on top of the system — it allegedly came directly out of the mouths of sick kids.

Cartoon satire: an empty pediatric-nutrition shelf labeled 'PediaSure with Peptides' with a single tipped-over can, while a stack of Medicaid invoices marked PAID towers beside it — The alleged mechanics: bill Medicaid more than 6,000 times for a high-cost specialty children’s formula, buy almost none of it, and pocket the difference. The Attorney General says the scheme left some families unable to get the formula their pediatricians ordered. Source: NY AG Letitia James.

PediaSure with Peptides is not a luxury item for the children who need it. It is prescribed for kids with malabsorption, failure to thrive, and conditions that make ordinary nutrition impossible to keep down. When the pipeline that is supposed to deliver it is being run as a billing machine rather than a supply business, the people who lose are the ones least able to advocate for themselves. That is the editorial heart of this story: the cost of Medicaid fraud is not abstract, and here it allegedly landed on infants and toddlers.

New York Attorney General

@NewYorkStateAG · June 29, 2026· paraphrase

A Long Island medical-supply owner allegedly stole more than $2.5 million from Medicaid by billing for a children's nutritional formula he largely never bought — and in the process kept some sick kids from getting the formula their doctors prescribed. We will hold those who steal from Medicaid accountable.

§ 03 / The Charges, the Forfeiture, and the Lifestyle

Ekpenyong and Duke Medical, Inc. were each charged with one count of Grand Larceny in the First Degree, one count of Health Care Fraud in the Second Degree, and one count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree. If convicted on the top count, Ekpenyong faces a maximum of eight and one-third to 25 years in state prison. Separately, the Attorney General’s office filed a civil asset-forfeiture action seeking $7,593,582.90 in damages.

The contrast prosecutors drew was deliberate. While, the OAG says, families struggled to get formula for their children, Ekpenyong allegedly spent the Medicaid proceeds on a Bentley, a Range Rover, and the mortgage on a Long Island mansion in one of Nassau County’s most affluent enclaves. The local Daily Voice headline put it bluntly: a fraudster who “lived large while families struggled to eat.” None of these allegations has been proven; Ekpenyong is entitled to the presumption of innocence and to his day in court.

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Letitia James

@TishJames · June 29, 2026· paraphrase

Stealing from Medicaid is stealing from every New Yorker — and when the theft comes at the expense of sick children, it is especially heartless. My office's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit will keep following the money and bringing these cases.

“When a bad actor bills for services they are not delivering, the enrollees who need those services don't receive them, the honest providers don't get paid, and the taxpayers who fund Medicaid are bilked.”
On how provider fraud harms patients, not just budgets — Center for Children and Families, Georgetown

§ 04 / Who Prosecutes — and the National Backdrop

The case was brought by the Office of the New York Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU)— the state arm, funded jointly by New York and the federal government, that investigates exactly this kind of provider fraud. New York’s unit is one of 53 MFCUs operating across all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In fiscal year 2024, those units together obtained 1,151 convictions and recovered roughly $1.37 billion, according to the HHS Office of Inspector General.

Cartoon satire: a giant leaking pipe labeled MEDICAID gushing dollar bills into the pockets of suited figures, while a small investigator with a magnifying glass labeled MFCU catches a single bill — The scale problem: CMS estimated $31.1 billion in improper Medicaid payments in FY2024, and the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association pegs combined Medicare and Medicaid fraud at $100 billion-plus a year. State Medicaid Fraud Control Units recovered $1.37 billion in FY2024. Source: CMS; HHS-OIG; NHCAA via CNBC.

That recovery figure is real money — and it is also a rounding error against the size of the leak. CMS estimated the Medicaid improper-payment rate at 5.09 percent in fiscal year 2024, or about $31.1 billion. Most of that is documentation failure rather than outright theft, but the fraud layer on top is enormous: the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association estimates combined Medicare and Medicaid fraud at more than $100 billion a year. In 2025, the Justice Department’s National Health Care Fraud Takedown charged 324 defendants over a record $14.6 billion in alleged fraud — the largest such action in DOJ history.

Where the Ekpenyong Case Fits

The unit — New York’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, one of 53 nationwide, brought the indictment. MFCUs recovered about $1.37 billion across the country in FY2024.

The leak — CMS put FY2024 Medicaid improper payments at $31.1 billion; GAO put total federal improper payments at $162 billion; the NHCAA estimates $100 billion-plus a year lost to Medicare and Medicaid fraud specifically.

Our standard — The Ekpenyong charges are allegations. We report what the indictment and the Attorney General allege, and we do not assert guilt before a verdict.

§ 05 / The Bottom Line

Strip away the product codes and the case is simple to state: prosecutors say a Long Island businessman turned a program meant to feed sick children into a personal fortune, billing Medicaid more than 6,000 times for formula he largely never bought, and that the shortfall hit the very kids the program exists to protect. He is charged, not convicted, and the presumption of innocence is real. But the alleged conduct is a textbook illustration of why Medicaid fraud is not a victimless paperwork crime — and of why New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James (D), and the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit say cases like this one are worth chasing all the way to a forfeiture action. We will update this page as the case moves through the courts.

New York Attorney General

@NewYorkStateAG · June 29, 2026· paraphrase

Charged: Nduka Ekpenyong and Duke Medical, Inc. with grand larceny, health care fraud, and scheme to defraud for allegedly stealing more than $2.5 million from Medicaid. Our civil action seeks more than $7.5 million. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.