Kimberly Willette, 59, of Friendswood, Texas, and Edwin Chad Isbell, 48, of McKinney, Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay and receive kickbacks in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. Nicolas Arroyo of Newport Coast, California, previously pleaded guilty for his involvement in the conspiracy. According to information presented in court, the defendants conspired with others to pay and receive kickbacks in exchange for the referral of, and arranging for, healthcare business, specifically pharmacogenetic (PGx) tests. Pharmacogenetic testing, also known as pharmacogenomic testing, is a type of genetic testing that identifies genetic variations that effect how an individual patient metabolizes certain drugs. The illegal arrangement concerned the referral of PGx tests to clinical laboratories in Fountain Valley, California, Irvine, California, and San Diego, California. More than $28 million in illegal kickback payments were exchanged by the defendants and others during the conspiracy.
In December 2019, Arroyo and eleven other individuals from three states were charged for their roles in the kickback conspiracy. A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Texas returned an indictment against Philip Lamb of Scottsdale, Arizona; Nicolas Arroyo of Newport Coast, California; Vincent Marchetti, Jr., of Coronado, California; William Flowers of Houston, Texas; Steven Donofrio of Temecula, California; James J. Walker, Jr. a/k/a Jimmy Walker of Frisco, Texas; Timothy Armstrong of Frisco, Texas; Virginia Blake Herrin of Frisco, Texas; Patrick Ridgeway of Jackson, Mississippi; Chismere Mallard of McAllen, Texas; Ray W. Ng of Dallas, Texas; and Ashley Kretzschmar of Aledo, Texas; for conspiring to commit illegal remunerations in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
