The CEO and chief physician of Done Global, a telemedicine company that supplies stimulant medications to thousands of patients nationwide, have been accused by federal prosecutors of fraud in connection with a purported $100 million conspiracy to give “easy access” to Adderall and other stimulants.
The Department of Justice claimed in a news release that Ruthia He, the creator of Done Global, was detained in Los Angeles on Thursday on suspicion of participating in the online distribution of Adderall, filing false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement, and obstructing justice.
The clinical president of the business, David Brody, was taken into custody in San Rafael, California, on the same charges.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in the statement that “they generated over $100 million in revenue by arranging for the prescription of over 40 million pills.”
She also added that these were the Justice Department’s “first criminal drug distribution prosecutions related to telemedicine prescribing through a digital health company.”
According to a statement from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the prescribed drugs frequently served “no legitimate medical purpose.”
According to court records, He and Brody gave patients who purchased a monthly subscription through the company’s platform prescriptions for Adderall and other extremely addictive drugs. They are charged with using “deceptive advertisements” to target drug seekers.
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They are also charged with organizing the business’s website “to facilitate access to Adderall and other stimulants, including by limiting the information available to Done prescribers, instructing Done prescribers to prescribe Adderall and other stimulants even if the Done member did not qualify, and mandating that initial encounters would be under 30 minutes.”
As per the Justice Department, “The indictment alleges that the conspiracy’s purpose was for the defendants to unlawfully enrich themselves by, among other things, increasing monthly subscription revenue and thus increasing the value of the company.”
The court papers claimed that Done attempted to “use the comp structure to dis-encourage follow-up” through its refusal to “pay Done prescribers for any medical visits, telemedicine consultation, or time spent caring for patients after an initial consultation, and instead paying solely based on the number of patients who received prescriptions.”
According to court filings, the firm persisted in its practices even after He and Brody were informed of how simple it was to obtain the stimulants and that “members had overdosed and died.”
According to court records, the executives also planned to swindle pharmacies, Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurance.
A likely disruption resulting from the indictment was alerted to public health authorities, physicians, patients, their relatives, and caregivers by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday afternoon.
“A disruption involving this large telehealth company could impact as many as 30,000 to 50,000 patients ages 18 years and older across all 50 U.S. states,” the advisory stated.
On its website, the company states that Done was started two years ago as a “passion project to help friends, coworkers, and loved ones struggling to access mental health care.”
According to the website, members pay a monthly subscription of $79 to access tools that assist people with ADHD as well as psychiatric board-certified medical professionals on the platform. To begin a subscription with the company, it costs $199.
