An Orlando doctor was charged on Tuesday with 13 counts of mail fraud and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to submit fraudulent Fen-Phen claims, the U.S. Attorney’s office said today.
Dr. Abdur Razzak Tai, 77, was charged in connection with his review of the echocardiograms of more than 1,100 patients who filed claims with the American Home Product Settlement Trust in Philadelphia. According to the indictment, Tai falsely certified that these patients’ tests showed that they had sustained heart damage whereas, in fact, many of these claimants had not been harmed.
Fen-Phen, an anti-obesity prescription drug, was distributed through American Home Products Corporation, later known as Wyeth (collectively “Wyeth”), but was subsequently withdrawn from the market. Prior to 1997, and continuing to the present, individuals who had ingested the drug filed individual lawsuits and class actions in federal and state courts against Wyeth and others, alleging that the use of the Diet Drugs had, or may have, adversely affected their health. To resolve that litigation, Wyeth entered into a class action settlement, which established a Trust to pay benefits to persons injured by Fen-Phen with money contributed by Wyeth.
It is charged that Dr. Tai entered into agreements with lawyers who represented persons who believed that they had been injured by taking Fen-Phen. Under these agreements, Dr. Tai agreed to read echocardiograms of the lawyers’ clients to determine whether they qualified for compensation from the Trust. For at least one lawyer, Dr. Tai was paid a set fee of $100 for each echocardiogram that he read. In addition, the indictment charges that Tai was to be compensated $1,500 for each claimant who qualified for benefits when that patient’s claim was paid. The indictment charges that Dr. Tai wrote reports and signed certifications attesting that claimants had suffered heart damage on some occasions when he knew that the tests showed that they had not and, on other occasions, when he knew that he had not personally reviewed the test results to determine whether they had suffered heart damage. The indictment charges that, despite his knowledge, Dr. Tai certified that these patients qualified for settlement benefits worth up to hundreds of thousands of dollars each.
Dr. Tai, if convicted, faces a maximum possible sentence of 260 years’ imprisonment, a $3.25 million fine, three years of supervised release, and $1,300 special assessment.
