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Kakra Gyambibi, 38, formerly of Connecticut, has been sentenced to three months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in January.
According to U.S. Attorney John Durham, Advantage Pharmacy was a compounding pharmacy located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The specialty medication they create costs health care providers thousands of dollars.
“As a compounding pharmacy, Advantage created compound prescription drugs specifically tailored for individual patients who had a medical need for a compound drug, by mixing together individual ingredients in the exact strength and dosage prescribed by the health care provider to meet the unique needs of a patient.”
Kakra Gyambibi was a former physician at Stamford Hospital, while her husband, Kwasi Gyambibi became a sales representative for Advantage Pharmacy.
In January, a grand jury in New Haven returned a 19-count indictment alleging that the couple entered into a scheme to defraud the State of Connecticut Pharmacy Benefit Plan and other health care providers by submitting prescriptions for compound pharmacy medications that would be dispensed at Advantage.
Durham said that although the prescriptions sent to Advantage Pharmacy contained Kakra Gyambibi’s signature, Kakra Gyambibi did not treat, examine, or even meet with the patients for whom the prescriptions were written.
Based on those false claims, the victim health care programs paid Advantage Pharmacy for compound prescription drugs. Advantage Pharmacy, in tum, paid commissions of between 15 percent to 35 percent to sales representatives, including Kwasi Gyambibi’s cousin.
In total, it is alleged that the Gyambibis forced the health care programs to pay Advantage Pharmacy more than $292,000. Kakra Gyambibi remains released on a $50,000 bond and was ordered to report to prison on July 15. A hearing has also been scheduled to determine how much restitution the Gyambibis will pay, with the government seeking $1,650,332.35.
In February, a jury found Kwasi Gyambibi guilty of two counts of health care fraud related to fraudulent prescriptions for compound drugs that were submitted to Advantage Pharmacy in March 2015 and found him not guilty of seven counts of health care fraud. The jury could not reach a verdict on the other 10 counts in the indictment. He’s currently awaiting sentencing.
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