HOUSTON – A Spring pharmacist faces time in federal prison after being found guilty by a federal jury of conspiring to pay millions of dollars in illegal healthcare kickbacks.
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Tronown Thomas, 54, owned and operated Rayford ACP Pharmacy. He was convicted of conspiracy to pay health care kickbacks after a five-day trial.
$20 million kickback scheme
The backstory:
During the trial, it was argued Thomas paid more than $2 million in kickbacks to the owner of a Houston clinic. In exchange, the clinic referred patients who were covered under the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (DOL-OWCP) and prescribed expensive compounded medications.
Thomas would bill the DOL-OWCP for those prescriptions. Between November 2015 and September 2017, Thomas and Rayford ACP Pharmacy got more than $20 million in reimbursements from the federal program.
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The other side:
During the trial, the defense argued that Thomas was not paying kickbacks, but rather paying for legitimate marketing services. The jury rejected those claims and returned a guilty verdict.
What’s next:
Sentencing is set for Nov. 12 and Thomas faces up to five years in prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.
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