A Louisiana pharmacy marketer was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison over his role in an $180 million fraud scheme, the Justice Department said Nov. 30.
Prosecutors said Thomas Shoemaker participated in a scheme to defraud Tricare by paying kickbacks to distributors for the referral of medically unnecessary prescriptions. As a result of the scheme, Mr. Shoemaker and his co-conspirators submitted $180 million in fraudulent billings to federal and private insurers.
According to court documents, Mr. Shoemaker allegedly acted as a marketer for a network of pharmacies owned and operated by his co-conspirators, Mitchell Barrett and David Rutland. Mr. Shoemaker allowed the pharmacies to use his Tricare insurance to adjust prescription formulas to ensure the highest reimbursement, and he recruited physicians to procure prescriptions for high-margin compounded drugs. He also obtained numerous fraudulent prescriptions using the information of military personnel he knew.
Mr. Shoemaker pleaded guilty on Aug. 12 to the scheme.