Physician sentenced for prescription drug conspiracy resulting in death

Date: Jan. 3, 2025

Contact: [email protected]

Shakeel Kahn was sentenced to 25 years in prison with five years of supervised release to follow for crimes involving drug distribution, firearms possession, and money laundering. U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson imposed the sentence on Jan. 3, in Cheyenne.

A federal jury convicted Khan on Dec. 15, 2024, following a six-week trial before U.S. District Court Alan B. Johnson in Casper. According to court records and trial evidence, between 2011 and 2016, Kahn was a licensed medical doctor who operated clinics in Casper, Wyoming, and Fort Mohave, Arizona. Kahn unlawfully distributed drugs by writing prescriptions for large quantities of opioids without any legitimate medical need in exchange for cash payments from his customers. Kahn possessed firearms in furtherance of his unlawful drug distribution, and at least one person died after overdosing on drugs distributed by Kahn.

The United States Supreme Court overturned the original convictions, which Khan was found guilty of in 2019, due to a faulty jury instruction.

The IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation investigated the crime. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie I. Sprecher and Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Griswold prosecuted the case.

This case was brought about by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a federal drug enforcement program in the United States, overseen by the Attorney General and the Department of Justice. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the major drug trafficking operations, tackle related crimes, such as money laundering, tax and weapon violations, and violent crime, and prosecute those primarily responsible for the nation's drug supply.

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 more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.