Pharmacy Owner Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Role in Largest Health Care Fraud Case Ever in

Pharmacy Owner Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Role in Largest Health Care Fraud Case Ever in Mississippi


Hattiesburg, Miss. – Thomas Edward Spell, Jr., 51, a pharmacy owner in Ridgeland, Mississippi, was sentenced today to 10 years in federal prison for his involvement in a $243 million compounding pharmacy fraud scheme, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, Michelle A. Sutphin, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Mississippi, Thomas J. Holloman III, Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation’s (IRS CI) Atlanta Field Office, and Cynthia Bruce, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s (DCIS) Southeast Field Office.

“This defendant ripped off every single military service member, veteran and American taxpayer when he defrauded TRICARE. The special agents, DOJ trial attorneys, our AUSAs and other law enforcement partners who investigated and prosecuted this case are to be commended for their diligence and fortitude in bringing this criminal to justice. We will continue to be vigilant in detecting, arresting and prosecuting those who defraud government services that benefit our military and our veterans,” said U.S. Attorney Hurst.

"Fraud against government funded health care systems like TRICARE not only costs taxpayers billions each year, but deprives funding for critical medical care and benefits for our current and former military members who bravely serve our country," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Sutphin. "Schemes like these are a plague on the nation's health care systems. Individuals and organizations that participate in this type of fraud will continue to be high priority investigations for the FBI."

“Thomas Spell systematically defrauded the government and the taxpaying public,” said IRS CI Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Holloman III. “His desire for money, along with the power and material items it buys, drove him to perpetrate crimes against our healthcare system and prey upon many of the vulnerable in our society. Thanks to the financial expertise and diligence of IRS-CI special agents, who worked side-by-side with other federal and state law enforcement officers to uncover these schemes, Spell will now face the consequences of his actions.”

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdms/pr/pharmacy-owner-sentenced-10-years-prison-role-largest-health-care-fraud-case-ever