During summer, things can still get a bit chilly up North, especially for fraudsters who have found themselves on the wrong end of the law. A federal judge sentenced a resident of Washington for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. William Robert Fayant, 56, of Liberty Lake admitted to defrauding federal healthcare programs.
Between 2016 and 2017, Fayant worked as a marketer and patient recruiter for InforMD and LabPharm, selling compounded and other high-reimbursing medications. (Maybe if he’d spent more time marketing his products, he would have attracted more patients.) Fayant was paid a commission by InforMD and LabPharm on each prescription that was referred to the companies if insurance covered the cost. (Which seems to be getting rarer every day.)
In order to increase his commissions, Fayant forged a prescriber’s signature on multiple prescriptions for himself and several other members of his family. (You must be willing to stoop pretty low to involve your family in your crimes.) Fayant also falsely authorized multiple refills for each of the compound prescriptions.
Fayant submitted the prescriptions to Alliance Allergy Solutions, a pharmacy based in Birmingham, Alabama, which then billed Express Scripts, Inc., and Medicare for the cost. ESI and Medicare paid at least $705,785 for these medically unnecessary medications. (That’s no small sum for sure. But, eventually the refills ran out, as did the commissions.)
Fayant received approximately $84,517 as commission payments for them. He pleaded guilty in March 2021 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and has since been sentenced to two years in prison. (I doubt that money is ever really worth the loss of freedom and reputation these fraudsters endure.)
Today’s Fraud of the Day comes from a Department of Justice press release, “Washington Resident Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Healthcare Fraud,” published on August 31, 2021.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A federal judge today sentenced a Washington state resident for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr.
U.S. District Judge Annemarie C. Axon sentenced William Robert Fayant, 56, of Liberty Lake, Washington, to two years in prison. Fayant pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. The court also ordered Fayant to forfeit nearly $85,000 and to repay more than $700,000 in restitution.
