South Florida Criminal Attorneys Blog
Vladimir Kleyman, 42, a pharmacist and president of a compounding pharmacy in Lakewood, N.J., was charged by New Jersey authorities with being in violation of the federal healthcare program anti-kickback statute.
A compounding pharmacy is defined as a pharmacy where certain manufactured products are mixed to fit the distinctive necessities of certain patients’ requirements. This is achieved by the pharmacist combining suitable ingredients using several diverse tools. These medications are usually prepared for reasons of medical necessity. Examples of this process are altering a form of an existing medicine from a solid item such as a pill to a liquefied product also avoiding any non-essential ingredients that may cause an allergic reaction. This process is also used for obtaining exact dosages required or considered to be the best combination of a precise active ingredient or varying ingredients. The process can also be done for the purpose of adding a flavor or altering a texture of a specific prescription.
According to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman’s office, Kleyman was arrested after being found to be in cahoots with a doctor from Toms River, N.J with one of his employees acting as an agent for the transactions. He is charged with paying the physician more than $50,000 in kick, encouraging him to refer prescriptions to his pharmacy.
Kleyman’s pharmacy, Prescriptions R US, also located in Lakewood utilized a middle-man to deliver recurring payments in cash that totaled into amounts of five figures to a N.J. doctor during a time frame of numerous months.
Mr. Kleyman appeared in Newark federal court in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge James Clark III on January 9 after an Indictment was unsealed containing allegations of his delivery of cash payments amounting to totals of no less than tens of thousands of dollars. The Indictment went on to specify that commencing in February of last year, Kleyman provided bribes in the amount of at least $50,000 in checks or cash by way of an individual in his employ who delivered the funds to a physician for the purpose of having the doctor authorize referral prescriptions, specifically for a pain cream made up of a blend of Ketamine, a Schedule III non-narcotic, Diclofenac, and Lidocaine as well as other compounded components which were prepared at Kleyman’s pharmacy, Prescriptions R US.
The complaint revealed the names of sixty-three patients that the pain cream had been prescribed for that was sent by the physician. The computer-generated list included at least 33 of 63 patients that were Medicare beneficiaries. The form was prepared by Kleyman or another individual who he employed or worked with in the scheme. Prescriptions R US did receive reimbursements from Medicare for the billing of more than $40,000 of the prescriptions which were referred by the induced physician separately and apart from other funds the pharmacy acquired from additional insurance providers from the health care industry.
Moreover, according to the complaint, in November and December 2013 there were a sequence of meetings held when the unnamed employee was given in excess of fifty thousand dollars in checks or cash from either Mr. Kleyman or his wife who also is an employee of the pharmacy knowing that the greater part of those funds were to be used to tempt the physician into accepting bribes for the purpose of referring the prescriptions to Prescriptions R US.
A conviction of the charges can levy a fine of up to twenty-five thousand dollars and a term of up to five years in prison.