“This heinous fraud scheme stole nearly $650,000 from savings programs were created to help patients struggling to afford specialty medications,” said U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers.
INDIANAPOLIS – Courtney Anguiano, 37, of Texas, has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.
According to court documents, Business 1, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, developed prescription medicines and then created savings card programs for the medicines. The savings card programs were designed to lower the out-of-pocket costs incurred by patients purchasing the medicines. After obtaining a savings card, patients were able to use it at the time of purchase or after the fact, by seeking reimbursements.
Between September 1, 2017, and July 26, 2020, Anguiano led seven other individuals in a conspiracy to defraud Business 1 by submitting fraudulent reimbursement requests under three savings card programs. The conspirators claimed that they had incurred significant costs when they purchased the drugs at issue, but none of them were actually prescribed the drugs during the relevant period.
Members of the conspiracy submitted 189 false reimbursement requests. Anguiano herself personally submitted 65 false claims. Acting through a contractor, Business 1 approved the fraudulent requests and paid the members of the conspiracy $648,528.22. Anguiano and her co-conspirators stole over 90% of the savings card program funds for one of the medications.
In an effort to avoid detection, Anguiano submitted some of her reimbursement requests under an alias or an altered version of her true name.
“This heinous fraud scheme stole nearly $650,000 from savings programs were created to help patients struggling to afford specialty medications,” said U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers. “For years, these scammers targeted the program intended for financially vulnerable patients with utter disregard for the harm they caused. The serious federal prison sentence imposed here demonstrates that our office will continue to work with closely with the FBI to investigate healthcare fraud schemes and hold the perpetrators accountable.”
“Investigating fraud and identifying those who perpetrate is one of our top priorities and this sentence should put others on notice that this illegal activity will not be tolerated,” said FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Herbert J. Stapleton. “We will continue to work with our partners to ensure those to who take advantage of the system for their own greed are held accountable.”
The FBI investigated this case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Court Judge James P. Hanlon. Judge Hanlon also ordered that Anguiano be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for 2 years following her release from federal prison and pay $648,528.22 in restitution.
U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew B. Miller, Meredith Wood, and Kyle Sawa, who prosecuted this case.
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