17-Year Prison Term For HV Doctor In Fentanyl Fatality, Bribery

WESTCHESTER, NY — A former Mount Kisco resident with a Manhattan practice was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for accepting bribes and prescribing medically unnecessary opioids — including to one patient who overdosed and died.

Dr. Gordon Freedman, 61, was sentenced Thursday in Manhattan federal court to 121 months in prison for receiving bribes and kickbacks from a pharmaceutical company in exchange for prescribing millions of dollars' worth of a potent fentanyl-based spray.

Freedman was also sentenced to 212 months in prison, to be served concurrently, on unrelated charges connected to a patient who died overdosing on his fentanyl prescription.

SEE:

• Mount Kisco Doctor Convicted In Fentanyl Kickback Scheme
• Mount Kisco Doctor Caused Fatal Overdose: US Attorney

"A prominent Manhattan physician allowed his medical judgment to be corrupted by hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes," U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said. "In addition, Freedman prescribed excessive quantities of oxycodone and fentanyl to one of his patients for no legitimate medical purpose."

Freedman, a doctor certified in pain management and anesthesiology who owned a private pain management office on Manhattan's Upper East Side, was also an associate clinical professor at a large hospital in Manhattan.

in 2013 alone, prosecutors said, Freedman prescribed the patient who died 85,427 oxycodone pills – an average of 234 oxycodone pills per day. In April 2017, Freedman gave the client prescriptions for 150 doses of a drug containing fentanyl, and for 950 oxycodone pills. Within a month, the client died of an overdose after ingesting fentanyl prescribed by Freedman.

Meanwhile, Freedman was being paid under the table to peddle Subsys, a potent fentanyl-based spray manufactured by Insys Therapeutics.

Subsys was a powerful painkiller 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. The FDA approved Subsys only for the management of breakthrough pain in cancer patients.

In August 2012, Insys launched a "Speakers Bureau," purportedly aimed at educating practitioners about Subsys. In reality, however, Insys used the program to induce doctors to prescribe large volumes of Subsys by paying them fees.

Freedman received about $308,600 in Speaker Program fees from Insys.

A partner in the speakers bureau scam was Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein of New Rochelle, who was sentenced in June. SEE: Prison For Westchester Doctor Who Pushed Fentanyl For Big Pharma

In reality, many of the speakers bureau programs were predominantly social affairs where no educational presentation about the fentanyl spray occurred. Attendance sign-in sheets for the programs were frequently forged by adding the names and signatures of health care practitioners who had not actually been present.

Prescriptions of Subsys typically cost thousands of dollars each month, and Medicare and Medicaid, as well as commercial insurers, reimbursed prescriptions.

In March 2013, a Regional Sales Manager for Insys sent an email to Freedman informing him that he would receive more Speaker Programs in the coming months because Insys wanted prescriptions of Subsys to increase, and urging Freedman to put more patients on Subsys.

Freedman responded, in part, "Got it," and significantly increased his Subsys prescriptions in the following months, during which he received about $33,600 in Speaker Program fees.

In 2014, his prescriptions of Subsys rose even further, and he was the fourth-highest prescriber of Subsys nationally in the final quarter of 2014, accounting for $1,132,287 in overall net sales of Subsys in that quarter alone. During 2014, Freedman was the highest-paid Insys "speaker" in the nation, receiving $143,000.

At the time, Goldstein was the fifth-highest-paid Insys speaker nationally. Insys employees took Goldstein and Todd Schlifstein, co-owners of a private medical office, to a strip club and spent $4,100 on a private room, alcoholic drinks, and lap dances for the two doctors. Goldstein even had Insys pay for the office's annual holiday party.

Insys Therapeutics filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 after reaching a $225 million settlement with the Justice Department.

Its founder and four other top executives were convicted on racketeering charges. SEE: Big Pharma Exec Gets 3 Years In Opioid Bribery Scheme

However, they were in court in May seeking to void their convictions, Reuters reported, saying prosecutors had failed to prove they knew the doctors in their speakers' bureau would write illegitimate prescriptions because of the payments and gifts.

The other doctors involved:

• Schlifstein, of New York City, was convicted upon a guilty plea and sentenced by Judge Kimba Wood on Oct. 28, 2019, principally to a term of two years in prison.
• Alexandru Burducea of Little Neck was convicted upon a guilty plea and sentenced by Judge Wood on Jan. 27, 2020, principally to a term of 57 months in prison.
• Dialecti Voudouris of Long Island City was convicted upon a guilty plea and sentenced by Judge Wood on March 5, 2020, principally to time served.