Two Florida men sentenced in TN for pharmacy fraud

Two Florida men have been sentenced by a Federal Judge in Greeneville, Tennessee, for their roles in a multimillion-dollar healthcare fraud scheme.

Peter Bolos, 44, of Tampa, was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, 22 counts of mail fraud and introduction of a misbranded drug into interstate commerce. U.S. District Judge J. Ronnie Greer sentenced him to 14 years in prison and ordered him to pay more than $24.6 million in restitution and $2.5 million in forfeiture.

His co-defendant, Michael Palso, 48, of Tampa, was sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $24.6 million in restitution.

“The scale of the prescription-drug fraud scheme orchestrated by Bolos and his conspirators was astonishing, and the 14-year sentence reflects the seriousness of Bolos’s participation in that conspiracy,” said U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III for the Eastern District of Tennessee. “The financial harm caused by health care fraud hurts all Americans, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee will continue to support the cooperation among its federal law enforcement partners that is necessary to bring criminal swindlers like Bolos to justice.”

According to court documents, Bolos and Palso and their co-conspirators deceived pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), such as Express Scripts and CVS Caremark, into authorizing millions of dollars worth of claims for prescription drugs that private insurers such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, and public insurers such as Medicaid and TRICARE, paid to pharmacies controlled by the co-conspirators. The conspiracy lasted from May 2015 through April 2018.

Court documents claim Bolos, Palso and one other man owned and operated Synergy Pharmacy in Palm Harbor, Florida. Through this pharmacy, they employed Scott Roix, a telemarketer operating under the name HealthRight, to gain prescriptions for Synergy and the other pharmacies involved in the scheme.

https://www.wate.com/news/crime/two-florida-men-sentenced-in-tn-for-telemedicine-pharmacy-fraud/
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I don't know if this is connected in any way with the other story I just posted, or if it's coincidental, but....