An attorney, pharmacist, and sales representative have each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pay or receive healthcare kickbacks. According to court documents, Daniel Tyler Walker, 50, of Lewes, Delaware, Michael Beatty, 53, of Pasadena, Maryland, and Seth Myers, 52, of Crystal Lake, Illinois, pleaded guilty to engaging in a conspiracy where each defendant either paid or received money in an effort to induce or reward the referral of healthcare services payable by federal healthcare programs, including TRICARE, a healthcare program for uniformed service members, retirees, and their families, Medicare, and Medicaid. In total, the related conspiracies involved millions of dollars of healthcare kickback payments.
According to court documents, Walker was a medical sales specialist for a pharmaceutical company headquartered in the Eastern District of Virginia. In connection with this role, Walker conspired with the owner of Royal Care Pharmacy to engage in a kickback scheme in which Walker received payments from Royal Care Pharmacy and its affiliate entities in exchange for referring and directing healthcare providers to have prescriptions for a drug manufactured by Walker’s employer filled at Royal Care. Payments for those prescriptions were made in whole or in part under various federal healthcare programs, including TRICARE, Medicare, Virginia Medicaid, and Maryland Medicaid. Walker and his co-conspirators agreed that he would receive 25 percent of all net sales of the drug filled by Royal Care. During the conspiracy, Royal Care profited more than $1.2 million from the scheme, and in turn, Walker received at least $573,000 in kickbacks for his role in the fraud. As part of his plea agreement, Walker has agreed to forfeit $671,790 to the United States, which represents the proceeds that he received during the course of the conspiracy.
