A Texas pharmaceutical marketer has been sentenced and will now pay the United States government $59 million in reparations.
The sentence comes after a lengthy court battle that put Californian Quintan Cockerell in the sights of government legal professionals.
Texas pharmaceutical marketer sees jail time
Cockerell was found guilty of manufacturing the most expensive medications that doctors could prescribe as custom orders. Then he would, alongside his conspirators, create fake prescriptions, replace the drugs needed with the most expensive ones, and create a false record to bill insurers.
According to court documents, Cockerell promoted “investment opportunities” for doctors to write these falsified prescriptions. These kickbacks fuelled the demand for the expensive components and left an illegal chain of ill-gotten proceeds from false orders.
Cockrell was also found to have propositioned the doctors with money and expensive trips to Las Vegas, the Caymans, and Mexico. He also involved his wife in the elaborate fraud by registering company assets and asking for financial cheques in her name.
Back in 2023, Cockrell was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of receiving kickbacks, and one count of money laundering.
The federal jury in the Northern District of Texas sealed his fate. Still, today’s sentence of two years and five months in prison and a financial penalty of $59 million was laid at his door for attempting to defraud the U.S. government.
The Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program has, since 2007, taken down “5,400 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $27 billion,” according to the Justice Department’s report.
As we recently reported, a collective of healthcare providers is being instructed to pay $21.3m after regulators discovered fraudulent medical services and billing claims, demonstrating the Justice Department’s zero-tolerance to medical fraud.
Strauss Ventures has agreed to pay $21.5 m to settle a breach of the False Claims Act regarding Medicare Part A and TRICARE claims. The 12 associated facilities under The Grand Health Care scheme knowingly submitted false claims for rehabilitation therapy for their residents
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