Attorney General Jeff Jackson Announces $40 Million Settlement with Grocery Chain Owner Over Inflated Drug Prices

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 2, 2026
Contact: [email protected]
919-538-2809

RALEIGH - Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced a $40 million multistate settlement to resolve fraud allegations against the international grocery retailer Ahold Delhaize, which owns supermarkets including Food Lion, Giant, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop. As part of the settlement, North Carolina will receive $503,460 in restitution and other recoveries.

"Companies have a responsibility to report prescription drug prices accurately, especially when taxpayer dollars are on the line," said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. "When companies fail to meet that responsibility, we'll work with our partners to hold them accountable and recover money for public programs."

The settlement resolves allegations that Ahold Delhaize violated the False Claims Act. Ahold Delhaize supermarkets offered prescription savings programs that gave members discounted prices on prescription drugs. Under the rules for Medicare Part D, Medicaid and TRICARE, these discounted prices should have been reported as the pharmacies' "usual and customary" prices on claims to those programs. These prices help determine how much the programs pay pharmacies for prescription drugs.

Instead, the supermarkets allegedly reported inflated "usual and customary" prices for prescription drugs in claims submitted to federal health care programs. As a result, Medicare Part D, Medicaid and TRICARE paid more than they should have for prescription drugs.

This settlement results from a whistleblower lawsuit originally filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

The National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU) team, including the North Carolina Department of Justice and the attorneys general offices in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, worked with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania to investigate the case and negotiate the settlement.

About the Medicaid Investigations Division (MID)

The Attorney General's MID investigates and prosecutes health care providers that defraud the Medicaid program, patient abuse of Medicaid recipients, patient abuse of any patient in facilities that receive Medicaid funding, and misappropriation of any patients' private funds in nursing homes that receive Medicaid funding. To date, the MID has recovered more than $1.2 billion dollars in restitution and penalties for North Carolina. To report Medicaid fraud or patient abuse in North Carolina, call the MID at 919-881-2320.

The MID receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $8,729,788 for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2027. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $2,909,927 for FY 2027, is funded by the State of North Carolina. To report Medicaid fraud in North Carolina, call the North Carolina Medicaid Investigations Division at 919-881-2320, or report Medicaid provider fraud online here or patient abuse online here.

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