Pennsylvania Man Sentenced for Stifling Probe into Purdue Pharma Kickback Scheme

A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced for his role in attempting to obstruct a federal investigation into a massive kickback scheme involving Purdue Pharma, a notorious opioid manufacturer.

On May 13, 2024, 49-year-old Steven Mack of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania was handed a one-year term of probation and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine, as well as perform 40 hours of community service. Mack’s sentence was doled out by United States District Judge William K. Sessions III, who ordered the community service to be related to services for persons suffering from drug addiction.

Mack’s guilty plea came after he was accused of intentionally deleting documents from his employer-issued computer in an attempt to impede the government’s investigation. The deleted documents were relevant to the government’s probe into an illegal kickback arrangement between Purdue Pharma L.P. and Mack’s former employer, Practice Fusion, an electronic medical records company.

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 Practice Fusion altering its physician-facing user interface to generate more opioid prescriptions. In 2020, Purdue Pharma L.P. entered a guilty plea 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.

Purdue Pharma L.P. was ordered to pay a criminal fine of more than $25 million as part of its plea agreement. The company’s role in the opioid crisis has been widely criticized, with many arguing that its aggressive marketing tactics contributed to the widespread addiction and overdose epidemic.

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, for their roles in bringing Mack to justice. 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.