Publication
Article
Pharmacy Times
Penalty is incarceration for multiple years and a massive fine.
An individual in Florida was indicted by a federal grand jury for criminal acts related to medications over multiple years and spanning several states. The individual was alleged to be the leader of a group that illegally obtained and distributed more than $230 million worth of medications. The allegation was that the group illegally obtained large quantities of HIV medications, which were then relabeled and given accompanying documentation to present them as high-priced medications that were obtained lawfully.
Image credit: inthasone | stock.adobe.com
The scheme established licensed wholesale drug distribution companies in Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, and New York, which were then used to sell the misbranded and adulterated drug products at steep discounts to other coconspirators at wholesalers in Maryland, Mississippi, and New York. The next step involved reselling the medications to pharmacies throughout the country. In addition to all that interstate criminal activity, which brought federal scrutiny, the medications were billed to health insurers upon being dispensed, including Medicare, creating additional federal offenses.
Joseph L. Fink III, JD, DSc (Hon), BSPharm, FAPhA, is professor emeritus of pharmacy law and policy as well as former Kentucky Pharmacists Association Professor of Leadership at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in Lexington.
The federal grand jury’s indictment alleged that between 2019 and 2021, the wholesale distributors paid the individual and his group more than $230 million for illegally acquired and misbranded or adulterated medications. Although no evidence directly indicated how much the individual made, the estimate was approximately $5 million.1
The grand jury charged him with conspiracy to deliver adulterated and misbranded drugs, conspiracy to traffic in medical products with false documentation, conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and specific money laundering offenses. If convicted of all those charges, the individual faced a potential maximum total penalty of more than 100 years in federal prison.
It is important to note this action was rooted in an indictment issued by a federal grand jury. That is a proceeding where the prosecutors present their evidence to an empaneled group of citizens who review the evidence to determine whether it is sufficient for the matter to proceed through the legal system. Contrast that with being charged with a crime, an action taken solely by one or more prosecutors. Presenting the evidence to a grand jury can be viewed as a safeguard for the rights of individuals whose actions are under scrutiny because it allows for additional independent assessment of the facts. Additionally, an indictment is viewed as having greater weight when prosecutors negotiate with the attorneys representing the accused individual. That played out here, where the individual reviewed the charges from the grand jury and entered a guilty plea.
The indicted individual pleaded guilty to the charges, which the judge accepted. The deal included an agreement to a penalty of 180 months of imprisonment followed by 3 years of probation, plus an order to pay restitution of $232,800,000.2 Once the judge reviews the charges and the evidence that prosecutors planned to use at trial and is assured that the plea was made knowingly and of the person’s own free will, it will be approved.
FDA Approves Roflumilast Topical Foam 0.3% for Plaque Psoriasis in Adults and Children
