Steven Mack, Obstruction of Investigation, Pennsylvania 2020

A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to probation and a hefty fine for attempting to obstruct a federal investigation into a lucrative kickback scheme involving Purdue Pharma and electronic medical records company Practice Fusion.

Steven Mack, 49, of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by United States District Judge William K. Sessions III to a one-year term of probation and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine and perform community service. Mack had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct a federal grand jury’s investigation into an illegal kickback that Purdue Pharma L.P. paid to his former employer, Practice Fusion.

According to court records, while working at Practice Fusion, Mack contributed to his employer’s successful efforts to persuade Purdue Pharma L.P. to pay Practice Fusion almost one million dollars in exchange for altering its physician-facing user interface to generate more opioid prescriptions. In 2020, Purdue Pharma L.P. entered a plea of guilty relating to this arrangement in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and Practice Fusion accepted responsibility for its role pursuant to a deferred prosecution agreement filed in United States District Court for the District of Vermont in case number 2:20-cr-11-wks.

Pursuant to that agreement, Practice Fusion agreed to pay a criminal fine of more than $25 million. In late 2019, knowing that the United States Department of Justice was investigating this illegal kickback scheme, Mack intentionally deleted from his employer-issued computer documents that were relevant to the government’s investigation. In recognition of the underlying opioid-promoting kickback scheme, Judge Sessions ordered as a condition of probation that Mack perform 40 hours of community service arranged by a probation officer and involving services for persons suffering from drug addiction.

As part of his plea agreement, Mack agreed to cooperate with law enforcement and to provide truthful testimony. Because of Mack’s cooperation, the United States recommended that Mack receive a non-incarcerative sentence. United States Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest commended the investigation of the Office of Inspector General for the United States Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Owen Foster. Mack was represented by Stephen Huggard, Esq., of Boston, Massachusetts, and Lisa Shelkrot, Esq., of Burlington, Vermont. The case serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of attempting to obstruct justice in the face of a massive corruption scandal.

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