$400M pain cream fraud: Drug rep headed to prison. And his crime will cost him $2.2M [View all]

One of the first men to plead guilty in a $400 million pain cream fraud with roots in Hattiesburg was sentenced Tuesday afternoon at William M. Colmer Federal Courthouse to 27 months in prison.

Gerald "Jay" Schaar, 48, a pharmaceuticals sales rep from Biloxi, also must pay $2.2 million in restitution with Albert Diaz, the Coast doctor who was convicted at trial on 16 related charges.

Schaar testified at Diaz's trial in February 2018, explaining how he asked Diaz to sign numerous recurring prescription forms for patients he had never examined.

The prescriptions were for compounded pain creams and vitamin pills that cost more than $10,000 each. Compounded medicines are meant to be created for individuals, but these were developed to maximize the cost, which was billed to TRICARE and other health benefits providers.

Read more: https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/crime/2019/03/27/pain-cream-fraud-mississippi-drug-rep-jay-schaar-gets-27-months-must-repay-2-2-million-tricare/3282160002/