Michigan woman convicted in connection to $65M pharmaceutical "coupon" fraud
(CBS DETROIT) - A woman from Dearborn was convicted by a federal jury on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud in connection to a scheme to obtain more than $65 million from pharmaceutical co-pay assistance programs, according to U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison.
Suzan Berro, 23, was allegedly involved in a multi-year scheme while she worked as a biller for multiple pharmacies.
According to court documents and evidence, the "coupon" programs assist patients with the high costs of brand-name prescription drugs, and Berro would create fake "prescriptions" for fake "patients."
Allegedly, she would use addresses from real estate lists, make up names and birth dates, pair them with real doctors' credentials and select expensive name-brand prescriptions.
In addition, she would make sure the addresses of each real doctor and the fake patient were located close to each other geographically.
Officials say an investigation revealed that the pharmacies existed only on paper and never opened to the public.
Co-conspirators submitted these fake claims on behalf of more than 40 pharmacies.
