Mississippi Businessman Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison For $288 Million Tricare Fraud Scheme

George F. Indest III with 30+ years of experience, is Board Certified in Health LawBy George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law

On January 15, 2021, a Mississippi man was sentenced to 18 years in prison by a federal judge for his role in a $287.6 million scheme to defraud the Tricare health benefits program. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), he committed fraud by paying doctors and drug distributors kickbacks.

What is Tricare?

Tricare is the health care benefit program serving active-duty military personnel, military retirees, and their dependents worldwide. The program provides comprehensive coverage to all beneficiaries, including health plans, special programs, prescriptions, and dental plans. Learn more about Tricare here.

Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud and Money Laundering.

In July 2020, he pled guilty to orchestrating a $287.6 million scheme to defraud Tricare by paying doctors and drug distributors kickbacks. The kickbacks were in exchange for unnecessary compounded medication prescriptions sent to his pharmacies. He admitted to tampering with drug formulas and bribing doctors to authorize prescriptions to rake in reimbursements from the federal benefits program. Read the complaint in full.

More Details of the Fraud Scheme.

According to the government, from 2012 to 2016, he used marketing companies, drug distributors, and compounding pharmacies that he owned to contract with other pharmacies to provide prescriptions for the medications.

He admitted to creating prescription pads with the drug formulas for doctors to push the expensive drugs onto patients easily. In exchange for participating in the fraud, doctors got a cut of the pharmacy benefits managers and programs’ reimbursements.

Additionally, he and his co-conspirators conducted illegal wire transfers of millions of dollars in illegally obtained cash to various companies and bank accounts. The government said he personally obtained more than $40 million from the scheme.

As part of his plea agreement, he is ordered to forfeit more than $50 million worth of property, luxury cars, and an airplane. He was also ordered Friday by U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett of the Southern District of Mississippi to pay $287,659,569 in restitution. Click here to view the plea agreement.

To read about a similar Tricare fraud case in Florida, click here to read one of my prior blogs.

Contact Health Law Attorneys Experienced in Representing Pharmacies and Pharmacists.

The Health Law Firm represents pharmacists, pharmacies, doctors, and medical groups in DEA, DOH, FDA, OIG, and DOJ investigations, qui tam and whistleblower cases, regulatory matters, licensing issues, litigation, administrative hearings, inspections, and audits. The Firm also represents both plaintiffs (whistleblowers or relators) and defendants in False Claims Act (whistleblower or qui tam) cases. The firm’s attorneys include those who are board-certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law as well as licensed health professionals who are also attorneys.

To contact The Health Law Firm please call (407) 331-6620 or (888) 331-6620 and visit our website at www.TheHealthLawFirm.com.

Sources:

Clough, Craig. “Miss. Businessman Gets 18 Years For $288M Tricare Fraud.” Law360. (January 15, 2021). Web.

Stawicki, Kevin. “Miss. Businessman Pleads Guilty To $288M Tricare Fraud.” Law360. (July 10, 2020). Web.

About the Author: George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law is an attorney with The Health Law Firm, which has a national practice. Its main office is in the Orlando, Florida, area. www.TheHealthLawFirm.com The Health Law Firm, 1101 Douglas Ave. Suite 1000, Altamonte Springs, Florida 32714, Phone: (407) 331-6620 or toll-free: (888) 331-6620.

“The Health Law Firm” is a registered fictitious business name of and a registered service mark of The Health Law Firm, P.A., a Florida professional service corporation, since 1999.
Copyright © 2021 The Health Law Firm. All rights reserved.

 

Florida Pharmacy Hit With FCA Suit for Illegal Kickback Scheme Targeting Tricare

George IndestBy George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law

On October 19, 2018, the federal government filed suit against a Florida pharmacy for allegations of illegal kickback schemes involving industry marketers. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida alleges that Oldsmar Pharmacy was involved in illegal schemes that resulted in the federal Tricare program paying more than $21 million in reimbursements for prescriptions and False Claims Act (FCA) violations.

Suit Filed on Behalf of The Defense Health Agency (DHA).

The federal government filed the suit on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, including its Defense Health Agency (DHA). The DHA administers the Tricare program, which provides health insurance for active duty military personnel, military retirees and their dependents.

The government is seeking treble damages, civil penalties and restitution, based on its claims that the pharmacy submitted claims to Tricare for reimbursement for prescriptions of costly compound medications. The government claims that they knew were fraudulent under the FCA because of the kickbacks paid to marketers.

On October 18, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a press release announcing the involvement of three military members in the scheme as sales representatives for Centurion Compounding, Inc. All three were indicted for paying kickbacks to Tricare beneficiaries to obtain prescriptions for compounded medications. You can learn more about this in the section below.21

Click here to read the DOJ’s press release.

Former Whistleblower Suit.

The lawsuit against Oldsmar Pharmacy and company President, Larry Smith, stems from a whistleblower suit filed in 2015 by Jennifer Silva and Jessica Robertson, former employees, according to the complaint.

The schemes allegedly occurred between September 2014 and February 2015 by Smith and Oldsmar and different pharmacy services administration organizations.

Tricare Reimbursements and Kickback Schemes.

According to the complaint, Centurion Compounding Inc., hired sales representatives as independent contractors who marketed costly compound medications to Tricare beneficiaries. Patients recruited by the sales reps were directed to send their prescriptions to Centurion, which then directed them to Oldsmar pharmacy.

From November 2014 to February 2015, Tricare paid about $18 million for approximately 4,000 claims for compound prescriptions as part of the kickback scheme, according to the federal government. Oldsmar paid Centurion more than $6.1 million in kickbacks, some of which was distributed to the individual sales representatives involved.

Additionally, prosecutors claim that pharmacy President, Larry Smith, entered into a second kickback scheme with several marketing companies. These companies published online advertisements offering free consultations for pain creams via telemedicine, without ever seeing a physician in person. In return, Oldsmar Pharmacy paid a 41 percent kickback to the marketers, the complaint alleges.

Click here to read the complaint in full.

The suit brings forward false or fraudulent claims; recovery of payments made by mistake by Tricare; and unjust enrichment. To learn more, click here to read one of my prior blogs on a similar case.

Contact Health Law Attorneys Experienced in Representing Pharmacies and Pharmacists.

The Health Law Firm represents pharmacists and pharmacies in DEA, DOH and FDA investigations, qui tam and whistleblower cases, regulatory matters, licensing issues, litigation, administrative hearings, inspections and audits. The Firm also represents both plaintiffs (whistle blowers or relators) and defendants in False Claims Act (whistle blower or qui tam) cases. The firm’s attorneys include those who are board certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law as well as licensed health professionals who are also attorneys.

To contact The Health Law Firm please call (407) 331-6620 or (850) 439-1001 and visit our website at www.TheHealthLawFirm.com.

Sources:

Hale. Nathan. “Fla. Pharmacy Hit With False Claims Suit Over Kickbacks.” Law360. (October 19, 2018). Web.

Stringini, Mary. “St. Pete doctor pleads guilty to receiving kickbacks, BMW in $5.3 million pharmacy conspiracy.” ABC Action News. (March 8, 2018). Web.

About the Author: George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law is an attorney with The Health Law Firm, which has a national practice. Its main office is in the Orlando, Florida, area. www.TheHealthLawFirm.com The Health Law Firm, 1101 Douglas Avenue, Altamonte Springs, Florida 32714, Phone: (407) 331-6620.

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“The Health Law Firm” is a registered fictitious business name of and a registered service mark of The Health Law Firm, P.A., a Florida professional service corporation, since 1999.
Copyright © 2019 The Health Law Firm. All rights reserved.

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