DOJ busts telehealth ‘drug dealing’ schemer

by Jessica Marie Baumgartner

Photo: Alamy

The Department of Justice (DOJ) National Fraud Division announced the success of the Health Care Fraud Unit’s prosecution of a California-based digital mental health company leader who illegally distributed 37 million Adderall pills.

According to the DOJ press release, Ruthia He founded and ran Done Global Inc. out of California, distributing the addictive pills to patients whom the company was warned had Adderall psychosis and other mental health side effects caused by the drug. She was also convicted of defrauding insurers of over $12 million and spending over $40 million to advertise on social media platforms in a deceptive scheme to falsely diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for profit.

“The goal of the conspiracy was to obtain an over $1 billion valuation by fueling user growth through a subscription for prescription business model whereby patients paid a monthly fee for prescriptions that were automatically refilled and obtained through a frictionless technology platform,” the press release explained. “Co-defendant David Brody, Done’s former clinical president, was separately sentenced to two years in prison (and) a fine of $1 million. “

The Oxford Treatment Center classifies Adderall as an ADHD drug with a high abuse risk, noting that over 4.6 million people abused the drug in 2018 and the majority of users are between the ages of 18-25. It further explains that although the long-term effects of Adderall have yet to be properly studied, Adderall use leads to tolerance increases, which cause users to take higher doses over time, leading to an increased risk of serious side effects, which include: drug dependency, pain and numbness in the hands and feet, seizures, depression, mania episodes, as well as heart attack, stroke, and psychosis.

Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Dr, Mehmet Oz, decried Ruthia He’s Adderall distribution in a video post to X. He called it, “Drug dealing rebranded as telehealth.”

He commended the DOJ’s National Fraud Division for the recent conviction and emphasized the importance of proper medical oversight. Oz then declared, “Telehealth is a powerful tool, but if you use it to bypass standards and engage in corruption — you will be caught and you will face the consequences like Ruthia He.”

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