Frank Purpera Jr., Health Care Fraud, Virginia 2020

ROANOKE, Va. - Frank Purpera Jr., the former owner of the Virginia Vein Institute, was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison after being convicted by a jury in January 2020 of illegally distributing controlled substances, health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and obstruction of justice.

Purpera, 45, of Blacksburg, Va., was convicted in January 2020 on 56 counts of illegal distribution of a controlled substance, two counts of obstruction of justice, one count of health care fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

"Dr. Purpera violated the trust placed in him when he illegally prescribed powerful narcotics and defrauded important health care programs depriving Virginians of necessary funding," Acting United States Attorney Daniel P. Bubar said today. "Today's significant sentence is the product of years of work by an incredible group of our state and federal partners—the Virginia Attorney General's Office, Department of Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

Evidence presented at trial established that Purpera, for a period of approximately five years, wrote numerous prescriptions for Percocet, and Adderall, both Schedule II controlled substances, in the name of his wife, who had a different last name, on multiple occasions. The prescriptions were not for legitimate medical purposes and were outside the scope of Purpera's medical practice.

In addition, the defendant falsified his medical records and sent millions of dollars in fraudulent bills to Medicare, Virginia Medicaid, and Anthem Insurance. The court ordered Purpera to pay over $2.3 million in restitution.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Virginia Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and an Investigator with the United States Attorney's Office.

Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan Jones and Randy Ramseyer, and Nicole Terry, a Special Assistant United States Attorney and an Assistant Attorney General assigned to the Virginia Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, prosecuted the case for the United States.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdva/pr/blacksburg-doctor-serve-90-months-prison-health-care-fraud-distribution-controlled