NJ Pharma Exec Admits Kickback Scheme Role: Feds

EDISON, NJ - The former president of a pharmacy business admitted his role in a health care kickback conspiracy last week, federal officials said.

Elan Yaish, 53, of Israel, pleaded guilty on Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court to conspiring to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback statute, Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna said.

The executive operated multiple pharmacies, including Apogee Bio-Pharm LLC in Edison, federal officials said.

From September 2017 to around December 2020, Yaish and others were part of a scheme that paid marketing companies to direct prescriptions for expensive medications to the pharmacies, according to documents filed in the case and statements made in court.

The marketing companies targeted Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries for expensive drugs and contacted the beneficiaries by telephone to get them to agree to try expensive medications, such as pain creams, scar creams, eczema creams and migraine medication, federal officials said.

Recordings of calls with the beneficiaries and pre-marked prescription pads for particular drugs that would yield large reimbursements, were then sent to to telemedicine companies by the schemers, federal officials said.

The marketers paid the telemedicine companies kickbacks for every beneficiary referred for a prescription, and the telemedicine companies paid doctors to approve the prescriptions, federal officials said.

The marketing companies then funneled prescriptions to pharmacies, including Apogee, with which they had kickback arrangements. The pharmacies also sought reimbursement from federal health care benefit programs, including Medicare and TRICARE, as part of the scheme, federal officials said.

As a result of the scheme, Yaish and his conspirators caused a loss to Medicare and other federal health care benefit programs of over $32 million.

Yaish faces up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest.

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 20, 2023.