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Brian Sokalsky, 46, was sentenced on Tuesday, Oct. 29 to a year and three months in prison, said Vikas Khanna, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, in a news release. Sokalsky previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit healthcare fraud by prescribing compound medications.
Sokalsky was a doctor at Jersey Shore Sports Medicine. His online biography said he graduated with a bachelor's degree in exercise science from Rutgers University and earned his doctorate at the Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine.
According to court documents and statements, Sokalsky agreed to authorize prescriptions for 49-year-old Matthew Tedesco, a former pharmaceutical sales representative from Linwood. In exchange, Tedesco referred about 30 patients to Sokalsky’s new medical practice.
Sokalsky then billed insurance for the visits by patients who Tedesco referred to Sokalsky's practice.
"Sokalsky also authorized prescriptions for the medications for existing patients of his practice, which he did to financially benefit Tedesco and encourage him to refer more patients to his new practice," said Khanna.
Some of the "medically unnecessary" prescriptions included libido creams for young females and large amounts of medications with the maximum number of refills. Once insurance stopped covering the compound medications, Sokalsky would authorize new prescriptions, often without seeing patients for a follow-up visit or notifying them of changes to medicine.
Sokalsky's fraudulent prescriptions ended up costing insurance more than $5 million between 2014 and 2016. Tedesco pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud conspiracy in June 2017.
Another pharmaceutical sales representative, 50-year-old Vincent Tornari of Linwood, and a former advanced nurse practitioner, 67-year-old Ashley Lyons-Valenti of Swedesboro, were also charged in the 33-count indictment in June 2020.
Lyons-Valenti pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, and Tornari pleaded guilty on Tuesday, March 14, 2023. They were both awaiting sentencing.
Sokalsky must also pay $5.13 million in restitution and he'll have three years of supervised release.
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