BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - A Florida man pleaded guilty in neighboring Alabama on Monday to a prescription drug-billing scheme that fraudulently charged health insurers over $200 million, officials said.
John Jeremy Adams of Panama City Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty to 16 counts of health care fraud, seven counts of spending the proceeds of health care fraud, one count of conspiring to commit fraud and one count of conspiring to pay kickbacks, AL.Com reported citing a press release from the US Attorney for Northern Alabama.
Adams, 39, was the former co-owner and chief executive officer of Northside Pharmacy in Haleyville, Alabama. Authorities said the pharmacy, which did business as Global Compounding Pharmacy, was the center of a long-term fraud investigation that lead to the arrest 10 people, including Adams, on 103 counts of fraud.
According to the plea agreement, Adams told employees to get medically unnecessary drugs for themselves and family members. He also told employees to add non-prescribed drugs to prescriptions, automatically refill prescriptions regardless of patients’ needs, waive and discount co-pays, and to bill healthcare providers for drugs without patients’ knowledge.
The agreement said Adams directed the scheme and even joked about it.
Adams and the other defendants billed health insurance providers over $200 million and were paid over $50 million, according to a Department of Justice press release from May 2019.
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