Done Health CEO and clinical president arrested for alleged $100 million scheme

The founder, CEO and clinical president of digital healthcare company Done Health, which provides chronic psychiatric care management, were arrested Thursday for allegedly participating in a scheme to distribute Adderall online, obstructing justice and conspiracy to commit fraud.

According to California-based Done Global Inc. founder and CEO Ruthia He and Done Health clinical president David Brody have been arrested by the Department of Justice for allegedly conspiring to commit health care fraud. health by submitting false and fraudulent claims for Adderall and other stimulants, obstructing justice, and for allegedly participating in a scheme to distribute Adderall online.

“As has been alleged, these defendants exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to develop and carry out a $100 million scheme to defraud taxpayers and provide easy access to Adderall and other stimulants without a legitimate medical purpose,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. .

According to the indictment, he and Brody conspired with others to provide easy access to Adderall and other stimulants via telemedicine and spent tens of millions of dollars on deceptive network advertisements. social.

The indictment alleges that the two men provided access to other Adderall stimulants in exchange for paying a monthly subscription fee. He and Brody allegedly enriched themselves illegally by increasing monthly subscription revenue, thereby increasing the value of the company.

“They generated more than $100 million in revenue by prescribing more than 40 million pills,” Nicole M. Argentieri, assistant director of the deputy attorney general, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said in a statement. .

He and Brody also reportedly structured the digital health platform to facilitate access to Adderall and other stimulants by requiring prescribers' first contacts with members to last less than 30 minutes and requiring prescribers to prescribe Adderall and other stimulants even though members did not qualify for the drug. .

It also reportedly implemented an “auto top-up” feature to allow subscribers to choose to receive an automatically generated top-up request each month.

The indictment alleges that he and Brody persisted in this scheme even after being informed that social media posts had been made about how easy it was to obtain Adderall and other stimulants through Done's platform and that Done members had overdosed and died.

Digital health executives also allegedly conspired to defraud pharmacies, commercial insurers, Medicaid and Medicare by forcing pharmacies to dispense Adderall and other stimulants to Done members and pay the cost of the drugs while the Done members continued to pay Done's subscription fees.

The indictment alleges that Medicaid, Medicare and commercial insurers paid more than approximately $14 million as a result of the fraud.

He and Brody also allegedly conspired to obstruct justice by deleting documents and communications in anticipation of a subpoena for Done after another telehealth company received a grand jury subpoena. The two also communicated using encrypted messaging platforms instead of their company emails.

On Thursday, Brody was arrested in San Rafael, California, and arrested in Los Angeles. The executives each face a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.

These prosecutions are the first criminal drug distribution charges brought by the Justice Department against a digital health company.

“Those who seek to profit from their addiction by illegally distributing controlled substances over the Internet need to know that they cannot hide their crimes and that the Department of Justice will hold them accountable,” said Attorney General Garland.