Dallas pharmacy owner sentenced to prison for $41M fraud scheme

A Dallas pharmacy owner was sentenced to prison for billing insurance companies for headache sprays, pain creams and scar creams that were never given to patients.

According to an Oct. 23 news release from the Justice Department, Ivor Jallah, 37, pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. He was sentenced on Oct. 21 to 120 months in federal prison and will have to pay more than $41 million in restitution.

His co-conspirator, Shannon Turley, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and will be sentenced in November 2024.

According to court documents, Mr. Jallah and Ms. Turley operated at least nine Texas pharmacies. They paid individuals they referred to as "marketers" for identifying information from insured patients. While some patients were aware of the scheme and demanded payment for their information, others were "oblivious" to the fraud, according to the release.

Mr. Jallah and Ms. Turley then had employees input the patients' information into "pre-populated prescription pads," sometimes paying physicians to fraudulently stamp prescription forms when they had not seen patients. Other times, they used physicians' stamps without their knowledge. Initially, the pharmacies sent out a fraction of the medications they billed to insurance, but they later stopped shipping them entirely.

Insurance companies audited the pharmacies to determine the legitimacy of the claims, and Mr. Jallah and Ms. Turley fabricated drug purchase invoices to support claims made to insurance. Mr. Jallah also instructed pharmacy employees to create fake prescription delivery logs and told the "marketers" to ask for patient signatures regardless of whether they actually received prescriptions. Employees were directed to forge signatures when they could not be obtained, the release said.

Eight defendants have already pleaded guilty in the scheme, and two others await sentencing.

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