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Blog, Business Law, Criminal, Drug Companies, Legal News, Organized Crime, Supreme Court

6 pharma executives face criminal charges for alleged fentanyl racketeering scheme

Written by Molly Gamble (Twitter | Google+)  | December 08, 2016 | Print |

Six pharmaceutical executives who worked for Chandler, Ariz.-based Insys Therapeutics were arrested Thursday on charges that they led a nationwide conspiracy to bribe clinicians to unnecessarily prescribe fentanyl-based pain medication, according to the Department of Justice.

The government claims the executives conspired to bribe physicians and medical practitioners in several states, many of whom worked in pain clinics, to prescribe their pain medication called Subsys. This narcotic contains fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid, and is intended to treat cancer patients suffering intense episodes of breakthrough pain.

In exchange for kickbacks and bribes, practitioners allegedly wrote large numbers of prescriptions for patients, few of whom were diagnosed with cancer. The indictment also alleges the former Insys executives conspired to defraud health insurers that showed reluctance to approve payment for Subsys when it was prescribed to non-cancer patients. The defendants allegedly did so by establishing a “reimbursement unit” that obtained prior authorization directly from insurers and pharmacy benefit managers.

Here are the names of the defendants, all of whom are no longer employed by Insys Therapeutics, along with the respective charges they face:

  • Michael Babich, former president and CEO: conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law
  • Alec Burlakoff, former vice president of sales: Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law
  • Richard M. Simon, former national director of sales: RICO conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law
  • Sunrise Lee, former regional sales director: RICO conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law
  • Joseph A. Rowan, former regional sales director: RICO conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Law
  • Michael J. Gurry, former vice president of managed markets: RICO conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy

Criminal charges are rarely pressed in cases involving pharmaceutical companies, and several agents noted the severity of the charges in statements.

Full Read – http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/6-pharma-executives-face-criminal-charges-for-alleged-fentanyl-racketeering-scheme.html

Blog, Business Law, Legal News, Supreme Court

Deposition With Robin Thicke, Pharrell Released

Robin Thicke admits to being drunk and high in his 2013 interviews; Pharrell seems annoyed in newly released deposition video from the ‘Blurred Lines’ copyright infringement case. (Oct. 26)

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Blog, Divorce, Family, Legal News

After the holidays, Divorce Day looms

Danielle Braff Chicago Tribune

The Christmas season isn’t always the happiest time of the year for couples, according to a recent survey by the law firm Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, which found that divorce filings jump by nearly one-third following the holidays.

First comes Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas and New Year’s. And then there’s Divorce Day: the Monday after Christmas break, when the flood of divorce emails clogs attorney inboxes, said James McLaren, partner with McLaren & Lee, in South Carolina, and former president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

“It always happens the first Monday that we’re back in the office, back after the holiday,” McLaren said.

Over at the U.K. law firm Slater and Gordon, they’re already preparing to deal with the influx of divorce requests.

They normally experience double the number of inquiries the first few days of the new year, but some years, they’ve seen a threefold increase. It’s most acute over the first few days of January, but the spike remains high throughout the entire month, said Amanda McAlister, head of family law at the firm.

It’s become such a significant time to divorce that the firm recently studied the reasons behind the trend.

Forty percent of married couples had problems in 2014, with 10 percent having severe issues, according to the study, which polled married Brits right before Christmas.

Twenty-five percent said the holiday break could possibly make or break their marriage, according to the survey, and 10 percent said they were definitely going to decide whether to go forward with their marriage depending on how well the holiday went.

Read Full – http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/sc-christmas-divorces-family-1213-20161208-story.html

Blog, Business Law, Divorce, Family, Legal News, Supreme Court

Sumner Redstone paid millions to mistresses and others who gave him ‘sexual favors,’ legal filing says

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That must have been a hell of a flight.

Media titan Sumner Redstone gave out many millions of dollars to multiple women — mistresses, a flight attendant and that attendant’s sister — according to legal documents filed Monday by his 45-year-old ex-girlfriend.

The CBS corporate jet flight attendant alone got $18 million — and her sister, whom Redstone allegedly bedded, received a cool $6 million from the randy billionaire, court filings claim.

The explosive allegations by former Redstone paramour Sydney Holland were accompanied by a warning that she “may be forced” to seek testimony from the 93-year-old mogul’s celebrity friends as well as from executives from Viacom and CBS, whose shares he controls, to substantiate her salacious claims.

Redstone’s legal team, in an emailed statement to CNBC, said, “Ms. Holland’s cross-complaint is a work of fiction punctuated by not-so-subtle threats of extortion and an overwhelming stench of greed.”

In her Los Angeles Superior Court filing, Holland said Redstone “gave tens of millions of dollars to various other women — who he had no intention of marrying and was not in love with — at the time he was engaged to marry” Holland.

Full Article – http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/12/redstone-allegedly-paid-millions-to-mistresses-and-others-while-getting-sexual-favors.html