New York doctor, 59, described as one of the nation's top dispensers of a highly addictive painkiller up to 100 times as potent as morphine is found guilty of accepting over $300,000 in kickbacks from opioid maker
- Dr Gordon Freedman was found guilty of conspiracy to violate anti-kickback laws, violating anti-kickback laws and honest services wire fraud
- Prosecutors said Freedman in 2014 wrote the fourth-highest number of prescriptions for Subsys, a potent fentanyl spray meant for cancer patients
- Freedman and four other doctors collected tens of thousands of dollars working for the sham 'Speakers Bureau' of Insys Therapeutics Inc
- The other doctors have pleaded guilty in kickback scheme
- Insys filed for bankruptcy protection in June after agreeing to pay $225million in settlement with federal government
- Opioid overdoses claimed nearly 400,000 lives in the US between 1999 and 2017, according to CDC
A New York anesthesiologist described by prosecutors as one of the nation's most prolific dispensers of a highly addictive painkiller 50 to 100 times as potent as morphine was convicted on Thursday of accepting over $300,000 in bribes disguised as speaker fees to write prescriptions.
Dr Gordon Freedman, 59, of Mount Kisco, was found guilty by a jury in Manhattan federal court of conspiracy to violate anti-kickback laws, violating anti-kickback laws and honest services wire fraud.
Prosecutors said Freedman in 2014 wrote the fourth-highest number of prescriptions for Subsys, a potent painkiller, accounting for more than $1.1million in overall net sales in a single quarter, while he was paid more than any other doctor in bribes.
Manhattan Dr Gordon Freedman (pictured in November) was found guilty Thursday of conspiracy to violate anti-kickback laws, violating anti-kickback laws and honest services wire fraud
Prosecutors said Freedman accepted over $300,000 in bribes disguised as speaker fees to write prescriptions for Subsys, a potent fentanyl spray meant for cancer patients
'Dr. Gordon Freedman sold out his patients by prescribing a powerful and dangerous fentanyl opioid in exchange for bribes from the pharmaceutical company that manufactured that drug,' US Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a release.
Berman said the conviction occurred in a case that resulted in guilty pleas by four other prominent Manhattan doctors.
Prosecutors say the fentanyl spray made by Insys Therapeutics Inc., headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, was 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, and was intended for the use of cancer patients.
Sentencing was scheduled for March 19 for Freedman, who owned a private pain management office in Manhattan. Prosecutors said he received $308,600 in speaker program fees.
Prosecutors said the speaker fee programs were supposed to inform other health care practitioners about Subsys but instead were mainly social affairs where no educational presentations occurred.
Freedman and four other doctors collected tens of thousands of dollars working for the sham 'Speakers Bureau' of Insys Therapeutics Inc, according to an indictment
Doctors Jeffrey Goldstein (left) and Todd Schlifstein (right) have pleaded guilty to accepting bribes disguised as speaking fees from the pharmaceutical company
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Prosecutors say the doctors, four men and a woman, collected tens of thousands of dollars working for the 'Speakers Bureau' of Insys over a four-year stretch beginning in August 2012.
The other doctors were identified as Jeffrey Goldstein, 48, of New Rochelle; Todd Schlifstein, 49, of Manhattan; Dialecti Voudouris, 47, of Long Island City, and Alexandru Burducea, 41, of Little Neck.
Schlifsten was so drunk at one of the events that he slurred his words, and Goldstein smoked pot and snorted cocaine before his appearances, the 75-page indictment alleged.
The New York Daily News reported last year that Freedman and Schlifstein at one point attended a strip club event where a senior pharmaceutical executive with Insys Therapuetics Inc spent $4,100 on liquor and lap dances.
Insys founder John Kapoor was previously convicted in Boston for his role in the kickback scheme
The opioid maker filed for bankruptcy protection in June after agreeing to pay $225million in a deal reached with the federal government to settle criminal and civil investigations. The deal also called for it to divest of Subsys.
Insys founder John Kapoor and four senior executives were previously convicted in Boston for their roles in the scheme. They have appealed their convictions.
After that trial, Insys said in an emailed statement that the 'the actions of a select few former employees' are not indicative of the company's work today.
Authorities say the prosecution exposed the bribes and marketing tactics including using a stripper-turned-sales-rep to give a physician a lap dance.
Opioid overdoses claimed nearly 400,000 lives in the US between 1999 and 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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