A Houston pharmacist, dubbed “Compound King” by justice officials was found guilty on wire fraud, health care fraud and money laundering.
George Phillip Tompkins’ scheme, with the help of Annop Chaturvedi, was to bill the federal government around $21.8 million for unnecessary compound pain cream and gel prescriptions for injured state and federal employees. Officials said the pair created a separate entity named Wellington Advisors to receive the program money from the Department of Labor's Office of Workers Compensation programs and Federal Employees Compensation Act.
They also continued to ship the gels and creams to patients who repeatedly complained about receiving they did not want them.
Evidence introduced at trial showed that Tompkins sought to disguise illicit kickback payments as legitimate "marketing" expenses.
Tompkins was on trial for six days and was convicted on one count each of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. There were also 11 counts of health care fraud and three counts of wire fraud, according to officials.
His wife was also in on the scheme to defraud the government. Marene Kathryn Tompkins, 68, pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to pay kickbacks and has not been sentenced yet.
Chaturvedi a legal permanent resident from India, is on the lam and has a warrant out for his arrest.
Contact Lisa: lisa@connectingvets.com
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