⏱ 5 min read
A 79-year-old Florida man, Frank Suess, made a deal with the feds to plead guilty in a healthcare fraud scheme that peddled medically unnecessary foot soaks to desperate patients. Suess, aka Franz P. Suess, agreed to forfeit a commercial property he used to carry out the scam.
Between 2019 and 2020, Suess and his co-conspirators conspired to fleece health insurers by billing them for expensive prescription drugs given to patients in foot baths, a dubious treatment that Suess claimed was an antibiotic and antifungal foot soak.
The ‘foot baths’ included high-cost medications such as vancomycin capsules, tobramycin vials, calcipotriene cream, moxifloxacin eye drops, clindamycin phosphate solution, and ketoconazole cream. Suess and his accomplices controlled pharmacies to conceal their involvement in the scheme, including the Sterling Pharmacy.
Four individuals still await trial, including Luis Salgado, Melissa Driscoll, Victor Velazco, and Dave Singh. Two co-defendants, Warren Pizik and Diana Castro, previously pleaded guilty and await sentencing.
Senior United States District Judge Malachy E. Mannion accepted Suess’s plea. United States Attorney Brian D. Miller said Suess admitted to the scheme’s involvement.
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📋 Key Facts
- Crime: White Collar Crime
- Defendant: Florida
- Location: PA
- Source: DOJ Press Release
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