A Florida pharmacy has been accused of Tricare fraud in a recent lawsuit filed by the federal government in relation to a 2015 whistleblower lawsuit.

In 2015, plaintiffs Jennifer S. and Jessica R. filed a whistleblower lawsuit against their former employer, Z Stat Medical LLC operating as Oldsmar Pharmacy, and Larry Smith, the company’s owner. Plaintiffs accused the pharmacy of committing Tricare fraud through illegal kickback schemes.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida recently filed the suit against Oldsmar Pharmacy on behalf of the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense’s Defense Health Agency is in charge of the Tricare program. Tricare provides health insurance for military members, veterans, and their dependents.

According to the suit, Oldsmar Pharmacy engaged in illegal kickback schemes with marketers. As a result of the kickback schemes, the Tricare program allegedly paid over $21 million in reimbursements for compound prescriptions which were involved with Oldsmar Pharmacy’s kickback schemes.

The Tricare fraud lawsuit claims that Smith knew that these claims were fraudulent under the False Claims Act due to the kickbacks paid to marketing companies.

“Smith had conducted his own independent research into the anti-kickback laws. Specifically, Smith was aware that no pharmacy could pay a commission per prescription to any marketing firm in connection with government funded insurance claims because it was illegal. Smith also understood this to be a norm in the pharmacy industry,” the Tricare fraud lawsuit claims.

The Tricare fraud lawsuit points to two kickback schemes which were allegedly carried out between September 2014 and February 2015.

In November 2014, Oldsmar Pharmacy allegedly entered into a kickback agreement with Centurion Compounding Inc. which was originally set to pay the company 25 percent of revenue from prescriptions that the company referred. Centurion initially rejected this offer but, after a different kickback agreement was disrupted by an insurance investigation, the company came to a deal with Oldsmar. In this deal, Oldsmar and Centurion evenly split 85 percent of revenue brought by the marketing company’s referrals.

Between November 2014 and February 2015, Tricare allegedly paid $18 million to Oldsmar for 4,000 claims on compound prescriptions which were referrals from Centurion. Oldsmar then allegedly paid Centurion over $6.1 million as a part of the kickback scheme.

This was allegedly not the only scheme Oldsmar was engaged in. The company also entered an agreement with companies owned by Scott Roix. These companies included Health Savings Solutions and Vici Marketing.

Under the alleged scheme, Health Saving Solutions would advertise free consultations for pain creams through which consumers would call telemarketers at Vici. The consumers would then be put into contact with a telemedicine company and be issued a prescription. The prescriptions were sent to another of Roix’s companies which then sent them for filling at Oldsmar Pharmacy.

Between September 2014 and February 2015, Oldsmar allegedly filed 700 claims resulting in $3.4 million in payment by the Tricare program. Oldsmar allegedly paid $5.5 million to Health Saving Solutions as part of their kickback agreement.

The Tricare fraud bring claims under the False Claims Act, allegations of unjust enrichment, and more. The government seeks treble damages, civil penalties, and restitution.

The Tricare Fraud Whistleblower Lawsuit is Case No. 8:15-cv-00444 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.