Brett Taft, Health Care Fraud, Alabama 2023

Brett Taft, 47, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., Sentenced in Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

A Tuscaloosa pharmaceutical sales representative was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in a scheme designed to fraudulently bill health insurance plans.

U.S. District Court Judge Annemarie C. Axon sentenced Brett Taft, the owner and sole member of the sales company BTAFT Medical, LLC, to 12 months in prison and 6 months of home detention. Taft was also ordered to pay a fine of $1,000 and restitution of approximately $2.2 million.

Taft pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud related to a June 2019 Superseding Indictment involving Paul Roberts, M.D., of Fultondale, and pharmacist Stanley Reeves of Demopolis.

This case is an unfortunate example of some in the medical field putting greed over patients' welfare, U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona said. We thank the many medical professionals who place patient health and ethical integrity first and will continue to prosecute those who instead choose to engage in criminal conduct for financial gain.

Taft, along with Reeves and Roberts, participated in a scheme to fraudulently bill health insurance plans for medically unnecessary compounded drugs. To induce Roberts to issue prescriptions for these medically unnecessary drugs, Taft provided Roberts with pre-written prescription forms for the compounded drug recipes.

Between April 2012 and February 2014, F&F Drugs billed health insurance plans approximately $2.2 million for medically unnecessary compounded drugs issued as part of the conspiracy. Roberts and Reeves previously pleaded guilty and were both sentenced in September 2020. Roberts pleaded guilty to 12 counts of prescribing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose, two counts of health care fraud conspiracy, and two counts of participating in a health care fraud scheme.

Roberts stipulated to a 72-month sentence and agreed to surrender his Alabama medical license. He also agreed to pay a fine of $100,000 and restitution of $2.2 million. Reeves pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit the above-described compounded drug health care fraud scheme.

According to his plea agreement, between April 2012 and February 2014, F&F Drugs billed health insurance plans approximately $10.5 million for medically unnecessary compounded drugs issued by various doctors, including those issued under the scheme involving Taft and Roberts. Reeves received a 38-month sentence and agreed to surrender his pharmacist license to the Alabama Board of Pharmacy.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal/pr/fultondale-doctor-demopolis-pharmacist-tuscaloosa-sales-representative-sentenced-health