William Hickman, 44, of Northfield, New Jersey, admitted leading a conspiracy that defrauded New Jersey health benefits programs and other insurers out of more than $50 million. Hickman was charged in March 2019 along with Brian Pugh, Thomas Schallus, John Sher, Thomas Sher, and Christopher Broccoli. Charges remain pending against those defendants, and their trial is scheduled to commence on Sept. 21, 2020.
Based on the instructions he gave them, Hickman’s conspirators recruited New Jersey public employees and others to fraudulently obtain compounded medications from Compounding Pharmacy that the patients did not need, often without a doctor seeing the patients or determining that the medications were medically necessary. Hickman and the conspirators working for him paid individuals for receiving Compounding Pharmacy prescription medications. If the patients did not see their own doctor, recruiters would give Hickman prescriptions that were completed except for the doctor’s signature, and Hickman would have a doctor sign the prescription. The completed prescriptions were faxed to Compounding Pharmacy, which filled the prescriptions and billed the Pharmacy Benefits Administrator. Compounding Pharmacy paid Boardwalk Medical for each Hickman prescription filled and paid by Pharmacy Benefits Administrator.
Pharmacy Benefits Administrator paid Compounding Pharmacy over $50 million for compounded medications, and Compounding Pharmacy paid William Hickman over $26 million for prescriptions obtained by Hickman and his conspirators. Hickman paid a portion of that amount to his recruiters, and they paid the recruiters under them. Hickman admitted paying Pugh approximately $435,000 in criminal proceeds over five months. Those payments provided the basis for the money laundering conspiracy charge to which Hickman pleaded guilty.
