United States v. Nourian

── United States v. Nourian ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Date: June 10, 2026 Category: Direct Criminal Case: 25-10365 Document: 185-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 06/10/2026 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals ____________ Fifth Circuit FILED No. 25-10365 June 10, 2026 ____________ Lyle W. Cayce Clerk United States of America, Plaintiff—Appellee, versus Dehshid Nourian; Christopher Rydberg, Defendants—Appellants. ______________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas USDC Nos. 3:17-CR-155-2, 3:17-CR-155-3 ______________________________ Before Haynes, Higginson, and Ho, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam: * A jury convicted Dehshid Nourian and Christopher Rydberg of their involvement in a healthcare fraud scheme. The scheme involved recruiting doctors to prescribe drugs to patients in return for a portion of the insurance proceeds. The doctors largely targeted federal employees receiving worker’s _____________________ * This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5. Case: 25-10365 Document: 185-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/10/2026 No. 25-10365 compensation and sought to prescribe these patients compound drugs because the government was known to pay large amounts for this type of drug—up to two to three times more than the amount paid by commercial businesses and far more than it cost pharmacies to manufacture. Nourian managed multiple pharmacies participating in the scheme. Rydberg directed finances for some of the pharmacies, including preparing taxes and managing account transfers. Following a jury trial, Nourian was convicted of sixteen counts stemming from his involvement in the scheme, including conspiring to commit healthcare fraud, committing healthcare fraud, conspiring to commit money laundering, committing money laundering, and conspiring to defraud the United States. Rydberg was convicted of nine counts, including conspiring to commit healthcare fraud, conspiring to commit money laundering, committing money laundering, and conspiring to defraud the United States. Nourian and Rydberg now appeal their convictions, challenging various aspects of both the trial and sentencing. For the following reasons, we affirm. Nourian and Rydberg first argue that the jury lacked sufficient evidence to convict them on any count. We review this challenge de novo. United States v. Scott, 892 F.3d 791, 796 (5th Cir. 2018). As part of their challenge to their conviction for conspiring to commit healthcare fraud, Nourian and Rydberg argue that the jury lacked sufficient evidence to convict them of this count because the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) is not a healthcare benefit program within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. §§ 24(b), 1347, and 1349. But we interpret the term “healthcare benefit program” broadly. United States v. Anderson, 980 F.3d 423, 428 (5th Cir. 2020). And we have previously included FECA in a list describing federal healthcare programs. See United States v. Shah, 95 F.4th 328, 349 (5th Cir. 2024). Furthermore, Nourian and Rydberg weren’t just convicted of 2 Case: 25-10365 Document: 185-1 Page: