Smart Pharmacy

Quote

Misconduct 'infected' pharmacy fraud case, argues St. Johns County man facing new trial​

Portrait of Steve PattersonSteve Patterson
Jacksonville Florida Times-Union

A St. Johns County man awaiting a second trial on health care fraud charges is asking a federal judge to dismiss his charges, arguing improper actions by the government have tainted the case.
“The prosecutorial misconduct [in] this case spans years, involved multiple prosecutors, and has infected nearly every aspect of this case,” defense attorney Patrick Korody wrote in a motion filed last week for his client, Scott Balotin.

A jury found Balotin guilty in 2021 of health care fraud conspiracy and being part of illegal financial transactions, but last year the discovery of new information led prosecutors to consent to requests by Balotin and a codefendant, Thomas Jones, to have new trials.

Jones, however, then pleaded guilty in December to both charges he would have faced, leaving Balotin the only person slated to face a jury again.

Balotin’s new trial has been scheduled for February, and in a single day last week Korody filed seven motions designed to challenge the core of the prosecution’s case
Those included the motion to dismiss due over prosecutorial misconduct and another to dismisson the grounds that Balotin’s Sixth Amendment fair trial rights had been violated.
The defense argued prosecutors hadn’t revealed information affecting the credibility of witnesses, including co-defendant David Stevens, until Balotin had already spent $1.7 million on legal costs. Now that the information is out, the argument went, Balotin can’t pay for the defense he would have used to prove his innocence.

“We now know that the government knew that Stevens had made an agreement with the United States to cooperate in exchange for not being prosecuted for his role in a ‘pill mill,’ that Stevens expected leniency from this Court for his cooperation in the ‘pill mill’ case, and that Stevens told federal agents that he ‘would do anything to stay out of jail and to remain with his family’,” wrote Korody, whom U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard appointed as defense counsel in March because Balotin was indigent.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Coolican filed a memo Monday saying prosecutors were working on answers to all seven motions but would need more time.
Coolican asked for an extra 10 days to respond. He noted that the prosecutor who led the investigation and worked the first trial had retired, as had a prosecutor who handled asset forfeitures in the case.

Balotin was one of 11 people indicted in November 2019 — eight in one case, three in another — on charges involving kickbacks to increase use of compounded prescriptions by people insured through the military’s Tricare health care system.
Unlike standard pharmacies, compounding pharmacists combine medications by hand, a customizing process that often makes medications significantly more expensive.
Many insurers don’t cover costs of compounded prescriptions, but prosecutors said businesses specializing in those medications set up teams to recruit customers, sometimes offering payments to patients or to doctors writing the prescriptions.

Jurors in the 2021 trial found Balotin not guilty of either seeking or paying kickbacks.
The case centered around prescription sales for Park and King Pharmacy, a longtime Riverside business that state records list as being dissolved in 2017.
 






anonymous said:
Scott was able to get a new trial on a last minute technicality before sentencing. All other defendants have plead guilty and will testify against him. He is without a doubt going to prison.

Sad thing is his brother Greg Balotin and Bill Scrogins were doing the same thing for years. They were just able to barter a deal. I don’t even think Samantha Balotin was ever held liable for her participation in steering prescriptions back to her husband’s pharmacy.

This whole operation was one big scheme.
Click to expand...
Samantha’s punishment is being married to Greg
 






Here another article
Misconduct 'infected' pharmacy fraud case, argues St. Johns County man facing new trial

Steve Patterson
Jacksonville Florida Times-Union

A St. Johns County man awaiting a second trial on health care fraud charges is asking a federal judge to dismiss his charges, arguing improper actions by the government have tainted the case.
“The prosecutorial misconduct [in] this case spans years, involved multiple prosecutors, and has infected nearly every aspect of this case,” defense attorney Patrick Korody wrote in a motion filed last week for his client, Scott Balotin.

A jury found Balotin guilty in 2021 of health care fraud conspiracy and being part of illegal financial transactions, but last year the discovery of new information led prosecutors to consent to requests by Balotin and a codefendant, Thomas Jones, to have new trials.
Big picture:$10 million settlement in Jacksonville prescription case part of $2 billion fraud probe

Jones, however, then pleaded guilty in December to both charges he would have faced, leaving Balotin the only person slated to face a jury again.
Balotin’s new trial has been scheduled for February, and in a single day last week Korody filed seven motions designed to challenge the core of the prosecution’s case.

Get the Afternoon Roundupnewsletter in your inbox.
Stay connected to the news of the day
Delivery: Daily

Your Email



Those included the motion to dismiss due over prosecutorial misconduct and another to dismisson the grounds that Balotin’s Sixth Amendment fair trial rights had been violated.
The defense argued prosecutors hadn’t revealed information affecting the credibility of witnesses, including co-defendant David Stevens, until Balotin had already spent $1.7 million on legal costs. Now that the information is out, the argument went, Balotin can’t pay for the defense he would have used to prove his innocence.

“We now know that the government knew that Stevens had made an agreement with the United States to cooperate in exchange for not being prosecuted for his role in a ‘pill mill,’ that Stevens expected leniency from this Court for his cooperation in the ‘pill mill’ case, and that Stevens told federal agents that he ‘would do anything to stay out of jail and to remain with his family’,” wrote Korody, whom U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard appointed as defense counsel in March because Balotin was indigent.












Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Coolican filed a memo Monday saying prosecutors were working on answers to all seven motions but would need more time.
Coolican asked for an extra 10 days to respond. He noted that the prosecutor who led the investigation and worked the first trial had retired, as had a prosecutor who handled asset forfeitures in the case.

Balotin was one of 11 people indicted in November 2019 — eight in one case, three in another — on charges involving kickbacks to increase use of compounded prescriptions by people insured through the military’s Tricare health care system.
Unlike standard pharmacies, compounding pharmacists combine medications by hand, a customizing process that often makes medications significantly more expensive.
Many insurers don’t cover costs of compounded prescriptions, but prosecutors said businesses specializing in those medications set up teams to recruit customers, sometimes offering payments to patients or to doctors writing the prescriptions.

Jurors in the 2021 trial found Balotin not guilty of either seeking or paying kickbacks.
The case centered around prescription sales for Park and King Pharmacy, a longtime Riverside business that state records list as being dissolved in 2017.
 






anonymous said:
I’ve known Greg and Scott’s mother many years through our work together at Temple. She always seemed so upbeat around everyone, but I know she was always worried about these two boys. It’s heartbreaking to see how greed can ruin a family. I feel so bad for her and the other siblings. Such a shame
Click to expand...
I went to Hebrew school with Scottie B as I used to call him. Greg and Scott really did ruin the family name. Such a disgrace
 












anonymous said:
That’s the whole purpose of a prenuptial agreement. You want that money, that’s what you have to wake up next to every morning.

Those of us ladies who had the misfortune of working at the pharmacy with him cringe just thinking about this
Click to expand...
Who remembers when he paid Mary B a full years salary to sign that agreement so she wouldn’t file sexual harassment.
 






Portfolio Media. Inc. | 230 Park Avenue, 7th Floor | New York, NY 10169 | www.law360.com
Phone: +1 646 783 7100 | Fax: +1 646 783 7161 | customerservice@law360.com
Feds Drop Marketing Exec's Tricare Fraud Case in
Florida
By David Minsky
Law360 (October 17, 2024, 5:56 PM EDT) -- A Florida marketing executive previously convicted in
a healthcare fraud scheme and then granted a new trial has had his criminal case dismissed by
U.S. attorneys after he alleged prosecutorial misconduct, saying federal officials violated his
constitutional rights and fed lies to a grand jury in order to secure an indictment.
U.S. District Judge Marcia M. Howard dropped the case against Scott Balotin on Wednesday in
Jacksonville, Florida, federal court after granting a motion by a prosecutor to dismiss his
indictment. In 2019, Balotin and seven others were charged with conspiracy to commit healthcare
fraud in a scheme to pay kickbacks in exchange for Tricare claims from patients who were
prescribed compounded pain creams.
Balotin was granted a new trial in 2023 after a cooperating co-defendant's credibility came into
question after a last-minute revelation that he was a confidential source for the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration. In his motion to dismiss filed in September, Balotin said an assistant
U.S. attorney presented "false and misleading testimony" to the grand jury regarding a dead
patient for whom pain cream was allegedly prescribed and billed to Tricare.
"While this may seem self-evident, the government may not rely on perjured testimony to secure
an indictment before the grand jury," the motion stated. "Further, in Mr. Balotin's case, it is the
cumulative impact of the falsehoods and misrepresentations made that impaired the grand jury's
integrity as an independent body and are unconscionable."
In its indictment, the government alleged Balotin used his Jacksonville-based marketing firm,
Casepark, to sell compound medications such as pain creams to Tricare beneficiaries and paid
sales representatives a portion of the claims the firm received from pharmacies.
The case proceeded to a trial in 2021 and a jury found Balotin guilty of conspiracy to commit
healthcare fraud and money laundering, court records show. But in 2023, Judge Howard granted
Balotin a new trial. Less than two hours before his sentencing hearing in September 2023, Balotin
learned about his co-defendant's cooperation with the DEA in another case.
A year later, Balotin stated in his motion to dismiss that it was important for the court to consider
the "totality of the government's misconduct" and drop all charges. During the grand jury, Balotin
said an assistant U.S. attorney allowed the dead patient theory to be told by a witness who had
been previously convicted in a separate fraud scheme, even though the prosecutor and her lead
investigator — a special agent with the Internal Revenue Service — knew the information was
false.
Balotin cited a 2018 email from the IRS agent to the AUSA informing her that there were no
Tricare records for the dead patient.
Additionally, Balotin said the government tried to prevent him from liquidating real estate to pay
for his defense because they wanted to use the properties as substitute assets to pay for the

alleged $2.5 million in illegal proceeds obtained from the scheme. The prosecutors then "flip-
flopped" and said the properties were directly traceable to the criminal conduct, then flip-flopped

once again during Balotin's trial and said his properties would only be pursued as substitute
assets, according to the motion.
One of the properties the government tried to seize was purchased via wire transfer in April 2014,
even though prosecutors alleged scheme didn't start until May 2014, with the first illicit payment
coming in that month, Balotin said in the motion.
Earlier this month, the government brought a motion requesting permission from the court to
dismiss the indictment "as a matter of prosecutorial discretion."
Patrick K. Korody of Korody Law PA, representing Balotin, told Law360 in an email Thursday that
the court's dismissal of the charges concluded a "very difficult" five-year ordeal for Balotin and his
family.
"Throughout the process, Mr. Balotin maintained his innocence," Korody said. "We are relieved
that the charges have been dismissed and believe that justice has finally prevailed."
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida declined to comment Thursday.
Balotin is represented by Patrick K. Korody of Korody Law PA.
The government is represented by Michael J. Coolican of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle
District of Florida.
The case is United States v. Balotin et al., case number 3:19-cr-00191, in the U.S. District Court
for the Middle District of Florida.
--Editing by Rich Mills.
All Content © 2003-2024, Portfolio Media, Inc.
 






After jury finds man guilty in Jacksonville pharmacy fraud, new defense gets case dismissed​

Portrait of Steve Patterson Steve Patterson
Jacksonville Florida Times-Union
Published 5:01 am E.T. Oct. 23, 2024
A judge has dismissed fraud charges against a St. Johns County man indicted five years ago as part of a ring offering kickbacks to boost sales of expensive compounded medicines paid for by the military’s Tricare health care system.

Scott Balotin, 54, was convicted of health care fraud conspiracy in 2021 and could have faced 18 years in prison, but the verdict was vacated last year after new information put his guilt in doubt.

Instead of going forward with a new trial scheduled for February, prosecutors this month asked U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard for leave to dismiss the case after a new court-appointed defense attorney tried to have the charges thrown out based claims of prosecutorial misconduct and violations of Balotin’s rights.

Prosecutors decided to drop the case “as a matter of prosecutorial discretion,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Coolican answered in a filing to Howard.

Coolican wrote that the government wasn’t conceding any of the arguments made by the defense, but that the subject was moot if prosecutors weren’t going to go ahead with the second trial.

Court records said Balotin, whose family includes four generations of pharmacists, was thought to have made about $2 million profit from work by a company he ran that marketed medicated creams for pain and scars from a Jacksonville compounding pharmacy, primarily targeting people with Tricare coverage.

Compounding pharmacies combine medications by hand, making them much more expensive than many conventional pharmacies using factory-made pills.

While many insurers don’t cover costs of compounded prescriptions, Tricare did.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said in 2019 that reimbursement rates for a one-month supply of some compounded creams could run from $4,000 to $17,000.

Prosecutors in 2019 indicted Balotin with 10 other people in two cases and said people working for his company offered bribes and kickbacks to doctors who would prescribe the creams as well as kickbacks to patients.

The years since have brought a mix of plea deals, trial convictions and acquittals.

If Balotin had been sentenced after a jury found him guilty in 2021 of health care fraud conspiracy and being part of illegal financial transactions, sentencing guidelines would have recommended a prison term between 14 and 18 years, a sentencing memo showed.

But discovery of additional evidence, including information about a previously undisclosed agreement for a witness to cooperate in exchange for avoiding charges in a pill mill case, led to prosecutors supporting a request for the second trial, then the decision to not proceed with the case after Balotin’s court-appointed lawyer, Patrick Korody, began pushing last month to have the case dismissed.

Last week, Howard granted prosecutors motion to dismiss Balotin’s charges and close his case.
 


















The case was officially dismissed. The Balotin defense filed motions and 2 of which were motions to dismiss based on prosecutorial misconduct and how it “infected” the case.

The government must’ve known they were in deep trouble and couldn’t respond to that misconduct.

Julie Hackenberry “retired with dementia”, but seems that never was uncovered/pursued. Her Florida Bar profile showed she was ineligible since she dropped or “retired” as the lead prosecutor, but now is eligible.

Extremely fishy…this Jacksonville USAO is dirty and avoids any accountability while pursuing any avenue to get a win on their sheet.
 


















Top Bottom
Back
Quote