Opinion ID: 4524736
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: dr. mbanefo’s challenge to the district

Text: COURT’S DRUG QUANTITY FINDINGS Finally, we readily reject Dr. Mbanefo’s argument that the district court was clearly erroneous in its findings with respect to the drug quantity for which Dr. Mbanefo should be held accountable. Contrary to Dr. Mbanefo’s argument that there was no reliable evidence that most of Dr. Mbanefo’s prescriptions for Oxycodone and Alprazolam were illegitimate, the district court found that an “overwhelming number” of Dr. Mbanefo’s prescriptions were illegitimate. We conclude that there is ample evidence to support the district court’s findings with respect to drug quantity, and thus that his findings are certainly not clearly erroneous. There was very substantial, if not overwhelming, evidence that the Columbus clinic at which Dr. Mbanefo worked had many of the warning signs and “red flags” of a “pill mill” operation. There was similarly strong evidence that Dr. Mbanefo was aware of the same, expressing concern not only to Agent Charles Sikes in his June 7, 2013, telephone conversation, but also to Junior Biggs. Of course, the two expert doctors persuasively testified that the prescriptions Dr. Mbanefo wrote for the eight patient files that they examined were illegitimate, both in the excessive amount and in the combination of Oxycodone and Alprazolam. And there was sufficient evidence that Dr. Mbanefo’s prescriptions written for 9 Case: 18-15145 Date Filed: 04/13/2020 Page: 10 of 10 other patients were similar such that the district court’s findings with respect to the quantity for which Dr. Mbanefo should be held accountable is far from clearly erroneous. For the foregoing reasons, we reject the Defendants’ challenges to their convictions and sentence. AFFIRMED. 10