A Texas pharmaceutical marketer was sentenced today to two years and five months in prison and ordered to pay over $59 million in restitution for conspiring to defraud the United States, receiving illegal kickbacks in exchange for compounded medications prescription referrals, and money laundering.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Quintan Cockerell, 43, of Palos Verdes Estates, California, worked with others to create and market expensive compounded medications that were not medically indicated. Cockerell and others used preloaded prescription pads that identified high-billing formulations for doctors to easily select. Along with his co-conspirators at the compounding pharmacy that received the fraudulent prescriptions, Cockerell implemented “standing orders” that enabled the pharmacy to swap out ingredients in the medications originally prescribed by doctors to maximize insurance reimbursements.
Cockerell and others recruited doctors to write prescriptions for these expensive compounded medications by creating so-called “investment opportunities” so that doctors who wrote prescriptions to the pharmacy could profit from pharmacy operations. They also took doctors on expensive trips to Las Vegas, Mexico, and the Grand Caymans.
To conceal the illegal kickbacks Cockerell received in exchange for prescription referrals, the pharmacy paid Cockerell’s wife as a sham employee. Evidence presented at trial demonstrated that she did not work at the pharmacy; instead, Cockerell communicated with the pharmacy using her email address and received checks for his kickbacks in her name. He then spent the proceeds from this scheme.
In October 2023, a federal jury in the Northern District of Texas convicted Cockerell of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of receiving kickbacks, and one count of money laundering.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri; Special Agent in Charge Michael Mentavlos of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS); Special Agent in Charge Jason E. Meadows of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Dallas Regional Office; Special Agent in Charge B. Chad Yarbrough of the FBI Dallas Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Casey Howard of the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG) Central Regional Office; and Special Agent in Charge Kris Raper of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (VA-OIG) South Central Field Office made the announcement.
DCIS, HHS-OIG, FBI, DOL-OIG, and VA-OIG investigated the case.
Assistant Chiefs Kate Payerle and Brynn Schiess and Trial Attorneys Jacqueline DerOvanesian and Lee Michael Hirsch of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted it.
The Fraud Section leads efforts to combat health care fraud through its Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program. Since March 2007, this program has charged more than 5,400 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $27 billion. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes.
More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
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