A New Jersey pharmacy was at the center of a nationwide $33 million kickback scheme to defraud insurers by issuing unnecessary prescriptions for medicine with high reimbursement rates, federal authorities said on Monday, April 20.
Adam Brosius, president of Main Avenue Pharmacy in Clifton, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered on April 1 to pay tens of millions of dollars for his role in the complex scheme involving lucrative compounded drugs, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark.
Brosius, 61, of Delray Beach, Florida, and others had identified drugs such as scar creams, pain creams, migraine medication and vitamins that would yield high reimbursements from commercial insurers and Medicare, which is government health insurance for seniors, officials said.
The pharmacy would create large prescription pads with those formulas and distribute them to marketers across the country who would then send them to telemedicine companies and doctors with whom they had a financial arrangement.
Main Avenue executives filled the prescriptions and submitted claims for reimbursement. They then paid kickbacks to the marketers based on the volume of referrals and the reimbursement amount in the “illicit kickback arrangement,” officials said.
Brosius and Jeffrey Andrews, a colleague, pleaded guilty in federal court in September 2024 to conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute. Brosius also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. At least two other individuals have faced charges in this case.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Madeline Cox Arleo ordered $33 million in restitution, $27 million in forfeiture and a term of supervised release.
Reporting by Scott Fallon, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
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