05/13/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/14/2026 19:15
Date: May 13, 2026
Contact: [email protected]
Detroit, MI - A Grosse Pointe Woods doctor was convicted yesterday by a federal jury in Detroit for failing to declare and pay taxes on income he earned from illegally selling controlled substance prescriptions as well as failing to declare and pay taxes on income received from corporations he controlled but registered in the names of other individuals, announced United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr.
Gorgon was joined in the announcement by Karen Wingerd, Special Agent in Charge, Detroit Field Office, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).
Convicted was Peter Nwoke. The trial which began on April 7, 2026, was conducted before United States District Denise Page Hood.
The charges on which Dr. Nwoke was convicted arose from the operation of his medical practice, Divine Medical Care and Divine Medical Services, which largely involved visiting homebound Medicare patients in Detroit. In order to avoid paying taxes Nwoke also incorporated two additional corporations, City Medical and Divine Medical Center, which he placed in the names of nominees. While Nwoke controlled the bank accounts and reaped profits from businesses incorporated in the names of others, he did not report that income or pay taxes on the money he received. Nwoke also engaged in the business of unlawfully selling controlled substance prescriptions for highly addictive opioids, charging $500 a prescription for Oxycontin 80mg or oxycodone 30mg. The prescriptions were then filled by the purchasers and sold on the street market. When he deposited some of the cash he received from pill sales in 20 different bank accounts, he failed to declare it as income or pay taxes on it.
According to evidence presented at trial, Nwoke underreported his taxable income for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 by a total of more than $2 million. Nwoke underreported his tax due and owing for those years by more than $725,000. He paid taxes totaling $29,424 when he should have paid $849,088 in taxes. In one tax year he paid $500 in taxes on income of over $400,000.
During the tax years in question Nwoke prescribed over 2.8 million dosage units of prescription drug-controlled substances. He deposited over $1.4 million in cash in his collection of bank accounts. After one of his confederates in the pill business was raided by the FBI, Nwoke told him, "They'll never get me, because I keep my paperwork together."
Nwoke is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 10, 2026. The defendant's sentence will be determined after consideration of the sentencing guidelines.
The defendant has pending against him three counts of false statement/perjury, based on his testimony at an earlier trial on the tax charges. That trial in 2022 ended in a mistrial, since that jury was unable to agree on a verdict. The perjury charges were severed from the tax charges and will be scheduled for trial at a later date. Nwoke is presumed innocent of these charges unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service, with assistance from many other federal agencies.
The trial was conducted by Assistant United States Attorneys Rob Moran and Wayne F. Pratt.
IRS-CI is the law enforcement 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. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.