Jury Reaches Verdict In Stamford Health Care Fraud Trial: Feds

STAMFORD, CT — A 40-year-old Stamford man was found guilty in federal court Friday of health care fraud offenses, announced United States Attorney John H. Durham and Brian C. Turner, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Kwasi Gyambibi was found guilty by a jury in New Haven court before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer. Gyambibi's trial had began on Feb. 11.

According to court documents, statements and evidence, Kwasi Gyambibi worked at UConn-Stamford, and his wife, Kakra Gyambibi, was a physician who worked as a hospitalist at Stamford Hospital. Advantage Pharmacy was a compounding pharmacy located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. 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. One tube of a compound drug cream prepared and dispensed by Advantage Pharmacy typically cost health care benefit programs thousands of dollars, and some individual tubes of cream cost more than $11,000 for a one-month supply.

Kwasi Gyambibi acted as, and eventually became, a sales representative for Advantage Pharmacy, according to authorities.

In January, a grand jury in New Haven returned a 19-count indictment alleging that, in 2014 and 2015, Kwasi and Kakra Gyambibi "engaged in a scheme to defraud the State of Connecticut Pharmacy Benefit Plan, TRICARE and other health care programs by submitting prescriptions for compound pharmacy medications prepared and dispensed by Advantage Pharmacy."

From Durham's release:

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 these false and misleading claims, the victim health care programs paid Advantage Pharmacy for the compound prescription drugs. Advantage Pharmacy, in tum, paid commissions of between 15 percent to 35 percent to sales representatives, including Kwasi Gyambibi’s close cousin, whom Kwasi Gyambibi considered his brother.

It is alleged that Kwasi and Kakra Gyambibi also induced the victim health care programs to pay Advantage Pharmacy more than $292,000 for their own compound prescription drugs.

The investigation has revealed that this scheme resulted in more than $1.5 million in losses to the victim health care programs.

The 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.

Judge Meyer scheduled sentencing for May 28, 2019, at which time Kwasi Gyambibi faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

On January 18, 2019, Kakra Gyambibi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. She also awaits sentencing.

This investigation is being conducted by New Haven Division of the FBI. U.S. Attorney Durham thanked the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Connecticut, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Fraud Section, and the Jackson, Mississippi Division of the FBI for their assistance with the investigation.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David J. Sheldon and Christopher W. Schmeisser.

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