Marketer Pleads to Kickback Charge in $211M Compound Drug Scheme

Federal prosecutors in Southern California secured another conviction in a case involving more than $211 million in payments for compound drugs that doctors allegedly prescribed in exchange for kickbacks. Jean F. Picard pleaded guilty to one count of paying kickbacks to people who arranged compound drug prescriptions that were filled at pharmacies owned by Hootan Melamed. Another marketer pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge last year for arranging kickbacks, as did a Fountain Valley doctor accused of receiving kickbacks. On the same day the U.S. District Court for Southern California accep...