WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — The U.S. Department of Justice announced Jan. 12 that a group of Orlando-area health care industry professionals have been convicted for their alleged role in a fraudulent kickback scheme.
The defendants are Larry Howard, owner of Fertility Pharmacy in Orlando, Nicole Bramwell, a local doctor, and Raymond Stone, a health care professional. According to the Justice Department, Howard paid Stone illegal kickbacks for referring patients to doctors of Howard’s choosing.
Those doctors allegedly would prescribe expensive pain and scar creams to patients and then bill TRICARE, the governmental agency that provides insurance coverage to active duty military and their families. Howard also allegedly paid illegal kickbacks to Bramwell in return for writing prescriptions for the creams.
Making the announcement for the Justice Department were acting assistant attorney general John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. attorney Maria Chapa Lopez of the Middle District of Florida, special agent in charge Eric W. Sporre of the FBI’s Tampa field office and resident agent in charge Brooke M. Harris of the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DOD-OIG) Defense Criminal Investigative Service.