Mich. Woman Convicted in $65M Pharma 'Coupon' Scam

Suzan Berro submitted fake reimbursement claims to several drugmakers' co-pay assistance programs.

A Michigan woman has been convicted of wire fraud and related charges for her role in a years-long scheme to steal more than $65 million from several drug co-pay help programs, the U.S. Department of Justice says.

Suzan Berro, 23, of Dearborn, was convicted on Friday after a six-day trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit. She will be sentenced on May 1, when she faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Berro submitted fake reimbursement claims to several drugmakers' co-pay assistance programs that provide patients with "coupons" to offset the often-high costs of name brand prescription drugs.

Prosecutors showed that for nearly one year Berro was a biller for multiple pharmacies.  She created fake prescriptions for fake patients using addresses from real estate lists, making up names and birth dates, selecting expensive name brand, and then ultimately pairing them with real doctors' names and credentials.

The evidence showed that the conspiracy went to great lengths to make the supposed patients appear real, including ensuring that all three addresses—the real doctor, the fake pharmacy, and the made-up patient—were in close, geographic proximity.  However, witnesses said that most of pharmacies only existed on paper, were never opened to the public, nor did they order inventory.

Berro and her co-conspirators submitted bogus claims on behalf of more than 40 pharmacies, totaling over $65 million.

"This was a complicated scheme that abused dozens of programs established to help those who are legitimately unable to afford their medications," says Dawn N. Ison, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.