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Mount Kisco resident Gordon Freedman, 59, was convicted by a federal jury in Manhattan federal court of conspiracy to violate anti-kickback laws, violating anti-kickback laws and honest services wire fraud after accepting more than $300,000 in bribes masked as speaker fees in exchange for writing certain prescriptions for Insys Therapeutics Inc.
It was alleged that in 2014, Freedman wrote the fourth-highest number of prescriptions for Subsys, a painkiller that is approximately 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine that was produced by Insys Therapeutics.
During his scheme, Freedman reportedly sold upwards of $1 million in prescriptions per quarter, while he was paid more in bribes from users. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said that Freedman received $308,600 in "speaker program fees" from Insys Therapeutics during the scam operation.
According to reports, during his speaking tours, Freedman was supposed to be educating other health care practitioners about Subsys, but instead served as social events with limited educational presentations.
“Dr. Gordon Freedman sold out his patients by prescribing a powerful and dangerous fentanyl opioid in exchange for bribes from the pharmaceutical company that manufactured that drug,” Berman said in a statement.
Freedman is scheduled to appear for sentencing on Thursday, March 19.
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