Pharmacy Executive Sentenced to Three Years for Orchestrating $32M Health Care Fraud

Elan Yaish, former pharmacy president, faces a 36-month prison term for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar healthcare kickback conspiracy, as disclosed by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

NEWARK, N.J. – Elan Yaish, 54, the former president of a pharmacy business, has been sentenced to 36 months in prison for his central role in a complex health care kickback scheme that defrauded Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries of over $32 million. This announcement was made today by Vikas Khanna, Attorney for the United States.

U.S. District Judge Esther Salas imposed the sentence on Yaish, a citizen of Israel, who had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback statute. This sentencing in Newark federal court marks a critical milestone in the crackdown on health care fraud.

According to court documents and statements, from September 2017 to December 2020, Yaish was actively involved in operating several pharmacies, including Apogee Bio-Pharm LLC in Edison, New Jersey. The scheme orchestrated by Yaish and his associates involved paying marketing companies to steer prescriptions for costly medications toward their pharmacies.

These marketing companies targeted Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries, aggressively promoting high-priced drugs like pain and scar creams, eczema creams, and migraine medication. They employed tactics such as telephone pressures and used pre-marked prescription pads, ultimately leading to kickbacks to telemedicine companies and doctors for every prescription filled. Subsequently, the prescriptions were directed to pharmacies like Apogee, which sought reimbursement from federal health care benefit programs, and then paid a portion of each reimbursement back to the marketing companies.

Judge Salas’s sentence also includes three years of supervised release and an order for Yaish to pay $32 million in restitution, underscoring the substantial financial impact of the fraud.

The successful investigation and subsequent sentencing were the result of collaborative efforts by the FBI, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service. This case was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine M. Romano of the Health Care Fraud Unit and Barbara Ward, Senior Trial Counsel of the Asset Recovery and Money Laundering Unit, in Newark.

This sentencing serves as a strong message about the seriousness with which healthcare fraud is treated, especially when it involves the exploitation of federal healthcare benefit programs and vulnerable populations.