Prison For Westchester Doctor Who Pushed Fentanyl For Big Pharma

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — One of five New York City-based doctors who took bribes and kickbacks from a pharmaceutical company in exchange for prescribing millions of dollars in potent fentanyl spray was sentenced Wednesday to 57 months in prison.

The nearly $200,000 in kickbacks included an all-expenses-paid visit to a Manhattan strip club.

Osteopath Jeffrey Goldstein of New Rochelle "put his own patients at risk in order to satisfy his own greed," said Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in an announcement about the sentence. The 50-year-old pleaded guilty in 2019.

The scheme revolved around a sham educational program created by Subsys manufacturer Insys, prosecutors said.

The FDA had approved the fentanyl spray only for the management of breakthrough pain in cancer patients. Prescriptions of Subsys typically cost thousands of dollars each month.

In 2012, Insys launched a Speakers Bureau, with a roster of doctors paid to be guest speakers. The programs were really social affairs, and attendance sign-in sheets were frequently forged by adding the names and signatures of health care practitioners who had not actually been present.

In 2014, 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.

They got their money's worth: Goldstein was the sixth-highest prescriber of Subsys in the last quarter of 2014, accounting for $809,275 in overall net sales of Subsys in that quarter.

The other doctors involved:

• Schlifstein, of New York City, was convicted upon a guilty plea and sentenced by Judge 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.
• Gordon Freedman of Mount Kisco was convicted following a jury trial in December 2019 and is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Wood on July 8, 2021.

SEE ALSO:

• Westchester MDs Pushed Fentanyl Spray For Big Pharma: US Attorney
• New Rochelle MD Pleads In Fentanyl Conspiracy Case