News the U.S. government is suing Rite Aid, accusing the drugstore chain of “knowingly” filling unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances only adds to the financial and operational woes of the embattled drugstore chain.

The U.S. Justice Department said Monday that Rite Aid “Dispensed Controlled Substances in Violation of the False Claims Act and the Controlled Substances Act.” The complaint was brought to the Justice Department by a whistleblower under the False Claims Act.

“The Justice Department is using every tool at our disposal to confront the opioid epidemic that is killing Americans and shattering communities across the country,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “That includes holding corporations, like Rite Aid, accountable for knowingly filling unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances.”

Rite Aid has declined to comment on the government’s complaint. Legal costs of such a high profile case can run into the tens of millions of dollars, legal analysts say. And a potential settlement could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“We allege that Rite Aid filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions that did not meet legal requirements,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. “According to our complaint, Rite Aid’s pharmacists repeatedly filled prescriptions for controlled substances with obvious red flags, and Rite Aid intentionally deleted internal notes about suspicious prescribers. These practices opened the floodgates for...

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