The founder, CEO and clinical president of Done Health, a digital healthcare company that provides chronic mental illness management services, was arrested Thursday on charges of participating in a scheme to distribute Adderall online, obstructing justice and conspiring to commit fraud.
According to Ministry of JusticeRuthia He, founder and CEO of California-based Done Global Inc., and David Brody, clinical president of Done Health, were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud by submitting false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement for Adderall and other stimulants . , allegedly participated in a scheme to obstruct justice and distribute Adderall online.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement, “Defendants are using the COVID-19 pandemic to conduct a $100 million scheme to defraud taxpayers and provide easy access to Adderall and other stimulants without a legitimate medical purpose.” “We developed and implemented it,” he said. .
According to the indictment, he and Brody conspired with others to provide easy access to Adderall and other stimulants through telehealth and spent tens of millions of dollars on deceptive social media advertising.
The indictment alleges that the two gave Adderall access to other stimulants in exchange for paying a monthly subscription fee. He and Brody allegedly enriched themselves illegally by increasing monthly subscription revenue, thereby increasing the value of their company.
“They generated more than $100 million in profits by arranging prescriptions for more than 40 million pills,” Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement.
He and Brody also called for digital health to make Adderall and other stimulants easier to access by mandating that prescribers’ first encounters with members last less than 30 minutes and directing prescribers to prescribe Adderall and other stimulants even if members are not eligible. It is said that the platform has been created. medicine.
He has also reportedly implemented an ‘automatic refill’ feature that will allow subscribers to select auto-generated refill requests each month.
The indictment alleges that he and Brody continued the scheme even after learning how easy it was to obtain Adderall and other stimulants through Done’s platform, as well as social media posts showing that Done members had overdosed and died.
Digital health executives also allegedly conspired to defraud pharmacies, commercial insurers, Medicaid, and Medicare by having pharmacies provide Adderall and other stimulants to Done members and pay for the drugs, while Done members continued to pay Done’s subscription fees. .
The indictment alleges that Medicaid, Medicare and commercial insurers paid out more than $14 million as a result of the fraud.
He and Brody also allegedly conspired to obstruct justice by deleting documents and communications in anticipation of a subpoena being issued to Done after another telehealth company received a grand jury subpoena. The two also communicated using an encrypted messaging platform instead of company email.
On Thursday, Brody was taken into custody in San Rafael, California, and arrested in Los Angeles. If found guilty, these executives could each face up to 20 years in prison.
This indictment is the first drug distribution crime charge filed by the Justice Department against a digital health company.
“Those who seek to profit from addiction by illegally distributing controlled substances over the Internet should know that they cannot hide their crimes and that the Department of Justice will hold them accountable,” said Attorney General Garland.
