Pharmacist Sentenced for $1M Prescription Drug Fraud Scheme

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Pharmacist Sentenced for $1M Prescription Drug Fraud Scheme

A Virginia man was sentenced today to two years in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare of over $1 million in prescription drug benefits.

According to court documents, Ronald A. Beasley II, 33, of Portsmouth, was the pharmacist in charge at NH Pharma, a pharmacy located in Lake Mary, Florida. Through NH Pharma, Beasley and his co-conspirators billed Medicare for expensive compound drug creams that they never actually purchased or dispensed, instead providing Medicare patients an inexpensive compound drug cream that Medicare did not cover. In fact, NH Pharma did not buy enough of the expensive prescription drugs to fill all the prescriptions NH Pharma billed to Medicare. In total, Beasley and his co-conspirators received more than $1 million in fraudulent Medicare proceeds.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; Special Agent in Charge David Walker of the FBI Tampa Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Omar Pérez Aybar of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Miami Regional Office made the announcement.

The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case.

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Trial Attorneys Reginald Cuyler Jr. and Darren C. Halverson of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.

The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program, comprised of 15 strike forces operating in 25 federal districts, has charged more than 5,000 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $24 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.

Topic(s): Prescription DrugsFinancial FraudComponent(s): Criminal DivisionCriminal – Criminal Fraud SectionFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)Press Release Number: 23-632

Updated June 6, 2023Original Article