Robert L. Crites, $31M Healthcare Kickback Scheme, Alabama 2026

healthcare kickback scheme illustration

Robert L. Crites, a 67-year-old man from Batesville, Mississippi, has been ordered to pay $31,039,134.82 in damages and civil penalties for his role in orchestrating a commission-based referral scheme targeting federal healthcare programs, in violation of the False Claims Act (FCA) and the Anti-Kickback Statute.

Crites, the owner of Health Services Plus and TriCom, LLC, and a contractor of Extraordinary Scripts, Inc., was found guilty by a federal judge in a judgment entered on March 16, 2026. The judgment is a result of Crites’ participation in an illegal kickback scheme in which he identified and referred patients across the country to Cloverland Pharmacy in Montgomery, Alabama.

The pharmacy, which paid Crites and his co-conspirators kickbacks for each referral, primarily targeted beneficiaries of TRICARE, the health care program for members of the U.S. military and their families. The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits the offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving of compensation to induce referrals for items or services reimbursable by federally funded healthcare programs.

The statute is designed to safeguard medical decision-making by ensuring that patient care is not influenced by improper financial incentives. The $31,039,134.82 judgment against Crites includes $16,342,424.82 in damages, which is three times the $5,447,474.94 in losses sustained by TRICARE, as required under the False Claims Act, as well as $14,696,710 in civil penalties imposed by the court.

Crites was the last remaining defendant in the case, with five other co-defendants previously settling with the United States. The United States also previously settled with others involved in a parallel civil forfeiture action. The case reflects the government’s ongoing commitment to combating healthcare fraud and protecting the integrity of federal healthcare programs.

The False Claims Act remains one of the government’s most effective tools in this effort. The case was investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was handled for the United States by Assistant United States Attorney Stephen D. Wadsworth.

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