Two Ocean Springs men are facing up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 fines after admitting Wednesday they accepted kickbacks in an $18 million healthcare fraud scheme involving prescription compound pain creams.
Dempsey Bryan Levi and Jeffrey Wayne Rollins pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud before Judge Keith Starrett at the William M. Colmer federal courthouse in Hattiesburg.
The two admitted they took part in an organized scheme — including paying bribes — that bilked military insurer TRICARE, Medicare and other private plans out of millions of dollars for the expensive medications.
In an agreement with the government, each of the men agreed to forfeit to the government the following amount of money they received as part of the scheme:
$895,730 from a Merchants & Marine account in the name of Alvix Laboratories
$28,383 from a Merchants & Marine account in the name of Garden’s Pharmacy.
Source: Ocean Springs pharmacy owners plead guilty in multi-million dollar TRICARE fraud scheme / SunHerald