WARREN, NJ – A North Jersey Doctor admitted to using his license in order to prescribe and sell prescription medicine illegally.
According to United States Attorney Philip R. Sellinger, a New Jersey doctor admitted today that he used his medical license and allowed others to use his medical license for the purpose of buying prescription oncology medications with false pretenses in order to sell them for profit.
In a videoconference proceeding before U.S. District Judge Susan D., Joel Lerner, 62, of Warren, New Jersey, a board-certified podiatrist and operator of a medical supply group purchasing organization, pleaded guilty. According to Wigenton, he unlawfully sold cancer medications he had previously purchased using his medical license and under the representation that such medications were to be used on his patients.
In accordance with the documents filed in this case and the statements made in court:
During his time at his medical practice’s offices in New Jersey, Lerner was recruited by an individual who owned a pharmacy and two wholesale distribution businesses. Lerner purchased medical supplies for his group purchasing organization based on the requests of this individual and others working with him, in exchange for commissions and discounts. He used his medical license – and allowed others to use it – to purchase expensive prescription drugs, primarily cold-chain biological infusion medications that are typically used to treat cancer, macular degeneration, and autoimmune diseases.
They were able to obtain prescription drugs from pharmaceutical manufacturers’ authorized distributors without being permitted to purchase them otherwise by recruiting Lerner and using his medical license to purchase the drugs. The two businesses they operated later sold these items at a profit.
In purchasing the drugs, Lerner and the two individuals made numerous false and misleading representations to the pharmaceutical manufacturers and authorized distributors, including that Lerner purchased the drugs for use in treating his patients, and that the drugs would not be sold or redistributed. In actuality, none of the drugs were administered to Lerner’s patients, but instead were sold to customers of the two businesses for profit. As a means of concealing his illegal purchase and sale of prescription drugs purchased under his medical license, Lerner sold and transferred the prescription drugs under the name of his group purchasing organization in order to hide his illegal activity. The scheme ran from December 2014 through November 2018, during which over $1.2 million in prescription drugs were purchased using Lerner’s medical license and his name.