[00:00.0 - 00:02.9] Eight Dallas, Texas area pharmacy owners and marketers [00:02.9 - 00:05.6] were charged in an indictment unsealed today [00:05.6 - 00:07.9] for their roles in a scheme involving approximately [00:07.9 - 00:11.2] 92 million in compound drug claims to TRICARE [00:11.2 - 00:14.3] in the U.S. Department of Labor, DOL, [00:14.3 - 00:16.0] which were allegedly the product [00:16.0 - 00:19.5] of over 9.1 million in illegal kickbacks. [00:19.5 - 00:22.6] Assistant Attorney General Brian A.
Benskowski [00:22.6 - 00:25.1] of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, [00:25.1 - 00:28.2] Special Agent in Charge, Michael Mentavlos [00:28.2 - 00:30.9] of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, [00:30.9 - 00:34.3] DCIS, Southwest Field Office, [00:34.3 - 00:36.4] Special Agent in Charge, Stephen Grell [00:36.4 - 00:38.4] of the U.S. Department of Labor, [00:38.4 - 00:41.9] Office of Inspector Generals, DOLOIG, [00:41.9 - 00:45.2] Dallas Region and Special Agent in Charge, CJ Porter [00:45.2 - 00:46.8] of the Office of Inspector General [00:46.8 - 00:51.3] for the U.S. Department of Health and Services, HHSOIG, [00:51.3 - 00:52.8] made the announcement.
[00:52.8 - 00:56.7] Richard Hall, 48, Scott Schuster, 47, [00:56.7 - 01:01.4] Dustin Rall, 43, George Locke Parrott, 34, [01:01.4 - 01:05.4] and Michael Ronell, 49, all of Fort Worth, Texas. [01:05.4 - 01:10.0] John Lee, 43, of Dallas, Quentin Cockerell, 37, [01:10.0 - 01:12.0] of Manhattan Beach, California, [01:12.0 - 01:16.1] and Turner Luke Zotzius, 36, of Horseshoe Bay, Texas, [01:16.1 - 01:19.1] were each charged in an indictment filed District 12 [01:19.1 - 01:20.8] in the Northern District of Texas [01:20.8 - 01:23.7] with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States [01:23.7 - 01:25.7] and pay and receive kickbacks. [01:25.7 - 01:28.2] Hall, Schuster, Rall, and Lowe were each [01:28.2 - 01:31.7] additionally charged with four counts of paying kickbacks.
[01:31.7 - 01:33.5] Zotzius was additionally charged [01:33.5 - 01:36.1] with two counts of receiving kickbacks, [01:36.1 - 01:38.0] and Ronell and Cockerell were each charged [01:38.0 - 01:40.4] with one count of receiving kickbacks. [01:40.4 - 01:42.9] Hall, Schuster, Rall, Lowe, and Ronell [01:42.9 - 01:44.5] were arrested yesterday [01:44.5 - 01:46.5] and had their initial court appearances [01:46.5 - 01:50.5] before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma C.
Ramirez in Dallas. [01:50.5 - 01:53.0] Parrott, Cockerell, and Zotzius self-surrendered [01:53.0 - 01:54.7] this morning and will have their initial [01:54.7 - 01:57.1] court appearances today at 2 p.m. [01:57.1 - 01:59.1] CST before Judge Ramirez.
[01:59.1 - 02:02.9] According to the indictment from May 2014 to September 2016, [02:02.9 - 02:06.6] Hall, Schuster, Rall, Parrott, Lowe, [02:06.6 - 02:08.8] and their co-conspirators allegedly engaged [02:08.8 - 02:10.8] in a scheme to pay kickbacks and bribes [02:10.8 - 02:14.0] for the referral of TRICARE and DOL beneficiaries [02:14.0 - 02:17.1] hired to obtain expensive compound drugs. [02:17.1 - 02:19.1] Hall, Schuster, and Rall were co-owners [02:19.1 - 02:22.7] of R-Express Pharmacy and Express Compounding, [02:22.7 - 02:25.9] compound pharmacies located at Thousand W, [02:25.9 - 02:28.0] Weatherford St. in Fort Worth.
[02:28.0 - 02:29.8] As alleged in the indictment, [02:29.8 - 02:33.1] R-Express and Express were separate in name only. [02:33.1 - 02:36.4] R-Express Pharmacy and Express Compounding [02:36.4 - 02:40.0] employed the same staff, operated out of the same building, [02:40.0 - 02:42.5] and utilized a call center to direct prescriptions [02:42.5 - 02:44.2] depending on whether the prescriptions [02:44.2 - 02:46.9] were for private or federal insurance. [02:46.9 - 02:48.7] The indictment alleges that both companies [02:48.7 - 02:51.9] utilized the same marketers but paid them differently [02:51.9 - 02:54.2] depending on whether they were receiving a commission [02:54.2 - 02:56.4] on a federal or private prescription [02:56.4 - 02:59.2] in order to disguise the illegal kickback payments [02:59.2 - 03:01.1] on federal prescriptions.
[03:01.1 - 03:05.0] Specifically, Hall, Schuster, Rall, Parrott, and Lowe [03:05.0 - 03:07.9] allegedly devised a scheme to make kickback payments [03:07.9 - 03:10.6] to marketers through Express Compounding [03:10.6 - 03:12.9] for the referral of federal prescriptions. [03:12.9 - 03:14.9] These marketers were allegedly set up [03:14.9 - 03:18.6] as Sham W-2 employees to appear as though [03:18.6 - 03:22.1] they were bona fide employees of Express Compounding. [03:22.1 - 03:24.1] At the same time, these marketers were paid [03:24.1 - 03:28.5] as 1099 contractors by R-Express Pharmacy, [03:28.5 - 03:30.5] the indictment alleges.
[03:30.5 - 03:33.4] The indictment alleges that as a result of the scheme, [03:33.4 - 03:37.6] Zoutzias was paid approximately $4.4 million cockerel [03:37.6 - 03:39.2] through an unnamed person, [03:39.2 - 03:42.0] was paid approximately 2.1 million, [03:42.0 - 03:45.2] and Rennell was paid approximately $2.6 million [03:45.2 - 03:46.8] in illegal kickbacks [03:46.8 - 03:49.9] for a total of approximately 9.1 million [03:49.9 - 03:51.5] in illegal kickbacks. [03:51.5 - 03:54.6] The charges in the indictment are merely allegations [03:54.6 - 03:57.5] and all defendants are presumed innocent [03:57.5 - 03:59.7] until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt [03:59.7 - 04:01.1] in a court of law. [04:01.1 - 04:05.0] DCIS-DOL-OIG, the U.S.
Department of Health [04:05.0 - 04:08.3] and Human Services Office of Inspector General, [04:08.3 - 04:11.4] the FBI and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office [04:11.4 - 04:14.2] of Inspector General investigated the case. [04:14.2 - 04:16.5] Assistant Chief Adrian Frazier [04:16.5 - 04:18.4] and Trial Attorney Brynn Shias [04:18.4 - 04:20.2] of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section [04:20.2 - 04:21.8] are prosecuting the case.
[04:21.8 - 04:25.2] Source, OIG, 8HS-GEOV. [04:25.2 - 04:27.6] Provided by AccessCloud Sync, [04:27.6 - 04:30.0] HIPAA-compliant file-sharing solution, [04:30.0 - 04:33.7] www.accesscloudsync.com.
