Oh The Pain! Clinics and Owner Convicted of Money Laundering

A Louisiana man, Michael Leman, and two of his pain clinics, Urgent Care Services Philadelphia Inc. and Urgent Care Services Cincinnati Inc., have been found guilty on one count of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to distribute hundreds of thousands of prescription pills. 

The jury reached its conclusion after more than three weeks of trial and approximately four hours of deliberation.
 
According to evidence presented at trial, Leman conspired from December 2004 until January 2008 with two doctors and other clinic officials to distribute oxycodone and methadone to hundreds of Kentuckians. Court records indicated that approximately 90 percent of the patients who visited Leman’s Philadelphia and Cincinnati clinics were from Eastern Kentucky. The clinics made a combined $1.2 million in cash in a 26 month period.
 
Trial testimony revealed that Leman instructed clinic officials to actively recruit Kentucky patients to travel to Urgent Care in Philadelphia for prescription drugs. The two pain clinics didn’t possess X-ray machines, MRI equipment, or the ability to cast broken bones.
 
Evidence also proved that Leman hired three doctors to work at the clinics who were unemployed, had criminal histories, and had at one time lost their license to practice medicine in other states. He paid these doctors $3,000 a week with additional monetary incentives if the clinic’s revenue exceeded $10,000 for the week.
 
At Leman’s direction, the doctors were to accept cash as the only method of payment and charge Kentuckians $500 per visit, more than two and half times the amount in-state patients paid. The doctors typically wrote prescriptions for large amounts of 40 mg Methadone tablets and Oxycodone.
 
When the doctors voiced concerns about the high volume of Kentucky patients visiting the clinic and the amount of medication that was being prescribed, Leman threatened to fire them.
 
All other members of the conspiracy have pleaded guilty, according to the government. Former Philadelphia doctor Randy Weiss and former Cincinnati doctor Stanley Naramore both received four years in prison. Urgent Care CEO Stephen Lyon and former clinic office employee Tonia Snook have yet to be sentenced.
 
Leman is facing a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.