BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ7) – After being tried in a federal courtroom, former Blacksburg doctor Frank Purpera has been found guilty of 60 federal offenses, including health care fraud and distribution of a controlled substance.
February 7, 2019, Dr. Purpera was indicted on two counts of healthcare fraud, alleged to have occurred between February 2014 and January 2018, according to documents filed in the US District Court Western District of Virginia, Roanoke Division.
The jury found Purpera guilty of all 60 counts for which he was charged. That includes 56 counts of illegal distribution of a controlled substance, two counts of obstruction of justice, one count of health care fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Evidence presented at trial established Purpera, for about five years, wrote numerous prescriptions for Percocet and Adderall, both Schedule II controlled substances, in the name of his wife, who had a different last name, on multiple occasions. That’s according to the US Attorney’s Office, which says the prescriptions were not for legitimate medical purposes and were outside the scope of Purpera’s medical practice.
He also falsified his medical records in an effort to defraud Medicare and Anthem Insurance, according to the US Attorney, who says Medicare and Anthem paid claims to Purpera in excess of $6 million.
As WDBJ7 first reported in 2017, Purpera was arrested in December of that year by the Drug Enforcement Agency after investigators said he committed fraud to obtain drugs. At that time, Purpera faced 70 charges including failing to maintain proper records, committing fraud to obtain drugs and making false statements to investigators.
In 2016, the DEA raided his office at the Virginia Vein Institute, claiming he was the largest buyer of pain killers in southwest Virginia.
Search warrants released in September 2016 explain federal agents suspected he bought thousands of painkillers for patients and family.
His lawyers told WDBJ7, the allegations are false.
“Dr. Purpera has never committed fraud, and he never lied to a federal agent,” his attorneys John Brownlee and William Gould said in a statement.
In February 2018, (https: Purpera was found guilty in federal court following a four-day trial on 67 counts of obtaining controlled substances by fraud, one count of omitting material information required to be kept, and one count of making a false statement.
In February 2019, Purpera was sentenced to 20 months in jail. Purpera was also ordered to pay a fine of $34,000 and a $6,800 special assessment.
According to a news release from the office of US Attorney Thomas Cullen, evidence presented at trial by Assistant United States Attorneys Randy Ramseyer and Jennie L. M. Waering, and Virginia Assistant Attorney General and Special United States Attorney Nicole Terry, established that Purpera obtained 3,200 oxycodone pills and has no record of what happened to those pills.
In addition, evidence presented at trial established Purpera tampered with witnesses, according to the release.
“The defendant advised two of his employees to say ‘I don’t recall’ if questioned by the government. Purpera also showed a video clip from the film The Wolf of Wall Street to one of the employees. In the clip, characters from the film are dealing with a witness and stating, ‘I don’t recall.'”
