Two men have pleaded guilty to defrauding New Jersey and health insurers out of $25 million by submitting claims for unneeded prescriptions.
Matthew Tedesco and Robert Bessey pleaded guilty on Thursday to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Authorities say they used a network of recruiters, doctors and state and local employees to get reimbursed for phony prescriptions and expensive and medically unnecessary compounded medications.
Prosecutors say Tedesco, a pharmaceutical sales representative, Bessey and others persuaded people to get the drugs from an unnamed out-of-state pharmacy.
That included recruiting public employees covered by state and local health benefits to obtain the drugs without being evaluated by a doctor.
Prosecutors say the pharmacies then paid kickbacks.
Tedesco admitted receiving more than $11 million and Bessey nearly $500,000. They both must forfeit that money.
Topics Numbers New Jersey
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