AKRON – Deepak Raheja, 66, of Hudson, Ohio, is headed to federal prison after being sentenced to 30 months for his involvement in a brazen pharmaceutical kickback conspiracy. U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi handed down the sentence today, along with an order for Raheja to surrender his medical license, pay $2,163,995 in restitution, and fork over a $50,000 fine. The case lays bare the lengths to which some doctors will go for a payout, and the damage it does to the healthcare system.
Court documents reveal that between February 2011 and July 2016, Raheja colluded with Frank Mazzucco, Gregory Hayslette, and Bhupinder Sawhny to inflate the number of prescriptions written for Nuedexta, a drug manufactured by Avanir Pharmaceuticals. The scheme revolved around monetary kickbacks and other perks exchanged for pushing the drug, approved by the FDA solely for the treatment of pseudobulbar (PBA) – a condition marked by uncontrollable laughing and crying. Avanir, through its sales reps Mazzucco and Hayslette, saw Raheja and Sawhny as key targets to boost sales.
The conspiracy operated through Avanir’s speaker’s bureau, a thinly veiled system of lavish dinners and presentations. Raheja, joining in February 2011, delivered approximately 211 of these “presentations” between October 2011 and April 2016, raking in roughly $1,500 per event. The total haul for Raheja from Avanir reached $331,550. This directly correlated with him becoming the nation’s top prescriber of Nuedexta, writing approximately 10,088 prescriptions during the conspiracy’s timeframe. It wasn’t about patient care; it was about cashing in.
But the scheme went further than just fancy dinners. Mazzucco and Hayslette actively incentivized doctors – including Raheja and Sawhny – through falsified sign-in sheets to maximize payments, and by providing free food and drinks to offices. Raheja and Sawhny responded by not only writing more prescriptions but also by allegedly misdiagnosing patients with PBA and fabricating symptoms to justify the prescriptions. They submitted fraudulent billings to Medicare and Medicaid, further enriching themselves at the expense of legitimate patients and taxpayers. This wasn’t just a kickback; it was a deliberate and cynical defrauding of the system.
While Raheja received a substantial prison sentence, his co-conspirators are also facing justice. Mazzucco and Hayslette are scheduled for sentencing in February 2023. Sawhny, however, received a lighter sentence of three years’ probation and a $40,126.22 restitution order. The investigation was a joint effort by the Cleveland FBI, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Ohio Attorney General’s Healthcare Fraud Section, demonstrating a coordinated push against healthcare fraud.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael L. Collyer and Megan R. Miller prosecuted the case, bringing the full weight of federal law down on Raheja and his accomplices. This case serves as a stark warning: profiting from patient misery and manipulating the healthcare system will not go unpunished. The Grimy Times will continue to follow this case and report on the sentencing of Mazzucco and Hayslette.
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Key Facts
- State: Ohio
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime|Sex Crimes|Cybercrime|Public Corruption|Weapons|Human Trafficking|White Collar Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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