Defendant Convicted for $1.1 Million Georgia Medicaid Fraud
A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia convicted Varian Scott of healthcare fraud on Monday, as stated in a press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Between September 2005 and April 2006, Scott and his cousin, Hezron Collie, purchased physicians' prescription pads from individuals at the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta, and at doctors' offices in Atlanta and in Florida. Scott and Collie then purchased the names, birth dates and Medicaid numbers for dozens of Georgia Medicaid patients. The defendants then forged approximately 164 prescriptions for Neupogen, a chemotherapy drug, and several medications used to treat HIV.
Scott and Collins presented the forged prescriptions toCVS, Publix, Walgreens, Kroger, and Eckerd pharmacies, which billed the medications to the Georgia Medicaid program. The defendants then transported the medications to South Florida, removed the labels, and sold them to a contact for 30% of their wholesale cost. A one month supply of Neupogen costs $10,000.
A pharmacist and a technician with Kroger aided the defendants. A total of $1.1 million in medications were fraudulently billed to Georgia Medicaid. Expert testimony was presented at Scott's trial regarding a multi-billion dollar "gray" market for the stolen drugs.
Acting U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates stated that Scott's case was the first conviction in Georgia for defrauding Medicaid through stolen and forged prescriptions and theft of patient information. Collie pled guilty to one count of conspiracy in June. Scott faces up to 10 years in prison. His sentnecing hearing is scheduled for December.
