Astoria Doctor and Greek Debt “Benefactor” Busted in Massive Drug Dealing Ring

A Queens doctor made millions selling a highly addictive narcotic out of his office and was arrested by federal agents in early December.

According to federal agents, Dr. Emmanuel Lambrakis, 69, sold about 23,000 prescriptions for oxycodone, a prescription pain-killer with a street value of $30 per pill between 2011 and 2016 from his clinics in Jamaica and Astoria.

According to the criminal case against him, Lambrakis charged $150 for patient visits that often lasted less than five minutes, including some where multiple patients were seen at the same time in a single examination room, prosecutors charged.

During these visits, the doctor would rotate the patients arms or legs as if to examine them, say little to nothing to the patients and then write up prescriptions for 120 30-milligram tablets of oxycodone, according to the complaint.

He would commonly conduct more than 30 visits in one day and is estimated to have collected more than $2.5 million in patient fees, prosecutors said in the official news release from the Justice Department.

Special Agent in Charge James C. Hunt said: “Drug dealers selling scripts for money give doctors a bad name. The dismantling of a modern day opium den masquerading as a medical clinic in the heart of Queens shows the result of law enforcement collaboration. The investigation identified that Emmanuel Lambrakis allegedly diverted oxycodone pills to New York City streets enabling the one thing law enforcement, communities, and health professionals are trying to avoid – opioid addiction and overdose deaths.”

Lambrakis was the chairman of a group calling itself END (End National Debt) which together with another individual named Artemios Sorras, claimed dot have more than $600 billion at their disposal and planned to write off Greece’s debt.

Despite the laughable and unrealistic claim, thousands of gullible Greeks believed that these men would “save them” and pay off their debts and filled rooms.

The matter was fueled by stories in mainstream Greek media about mysterious bonds worth billions of dollars that were in Sorras’ possession.

Sorras and Lambrakis traveled around Greece giving public speeches in town squares about how they were poised to pay off all of Greece’s national debt.

Georgia Logothetis, deputy executive director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council called the group “false hope peddlers” in a blog post on the organization’s website which outlined their scheme.