Arkansas Man Sentenced to Prison and Ordered to Pay Almost $6M in Restitution for His Role in TRICARE Fraud Scheme

United States Attorney’s Office – Western District of Texas, Aug. 18, 2021

WACO – An Arkansas man was sentenced today to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay $5,918,446 in restitution for his role in a scheme to defraud TRICARE, a health care program of the U.S. Department of Defense.

According to court documents, Theodis Lamond Jefferson, 37, a former United States Army Service Member, received more than $5.9 million from January 2015 to June 2015 from pharmacies and groups that provided and marketed compounded medications. Compounded medications are personalized dosages or formulas normally made for patients who cannot tolerate certain ingredients in commercially manufactured medications. Jefferson defrauded TRICARE by making and receiving unlawful payments for the prescription of compounded drugs to TRICARE beneficiaries. Jefferson paid bribes to prescribing physicians and kickbacks to TRICARE beneficiaries, who unlawfully enriched themselves from TRICARE reimbursements for covered compounded drugs.

On December 8, 2020, Jefferson pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of illegal payment and one count of payment of illegal fee.

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