Pharmacy Owner Peter Bolos Convicted In $30M Telemedicine Fraud

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — A federal jury has convicted Peter Bolos, 44, of Tampa, Florida, on charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, 22 counts of mail fraud, and felony misbranding of a medication in a massive telemedicine pharmacy fraud scheme.

The trial, which spanned over a month, revealed that Bolos, along with several associates, conned millions from pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) like Express Scripts and CVS Caremark. These PBMs typically pay pharmacies on behalf of public insurance programs such as Medicare and Tricare, as well as private insurance companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee.

Bolos, in cahoots with Andrew Assad, Michael Palso, Maikel Bolos, Larry Smith, Scott Roix, HealthRight LLC, Mihir Taneja, Arun Kapoor, and Sterling Knight Pharmaceuticals, utilized fraudulent means to obtain prescriptions from Roix. They purchased these prescriptions at $500 each, masking the transactions under false marketing agreements.

Roix deceived patients into providing their insurance information through HealthRight’s telemedicine platform and directed doctors to issue prescriptions based on虚假 patient requests. The medications were chosen for their profitability, with Bolos paying Roix over $30,000,000 during the scheme from May 26, 2015, to April 1, 2018.

Roix, Assad, Palso, Smith, Maikel Bolos, and other associated entities have already pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy. Taneja, Kapoor, and Sterling Knight also pleaded guilty to felony misbranding. Sentencings for all are scheduled for 2022.

The extensive investigation was a collaborative effort by various agencies including the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, U.S. Postal Service, FBI, OPM Office of Inspector General, DHS Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The prosecution team included Assistant U.S. Attorneys TJ Harker and Mac Heavener, and Trial Attorney David Gunn.