Michigan Woman Convicted of Multi-Million Dollar Pharma Fraud

Suzan Berro was only 20 years old when she was arrested and charged with multiple counts of pharmaceutical fraud in a complex $65 million medication assistance program scam. Now, at 23, she has been convicted. 

She is the youngest of 10 conspirators indicted at the end of 2019 by a federal grand jury on charges which included mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The defendants were charged with defrauding pharmaceutical manufacturers by submitting reimbursement claims for medications that were never purchased or dispensed and submitting claims on behalf of patients who never existed. 

Berro’s case recently went to trial before a federal jury. Prosecutors introduced evidence showing Berro submitted fake reimbursement claims to pharmaceutical manufacturers’ assistance programs. 

According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), “the evidence showed that Berro, who participated in the scheme for nearly a year, was a biller for multiple pharmacies. In that role, she created fake ‘prescriptions’ for fake ‘patients’ by taking addresses from real estate lists, making up names and birth dates, selecting expensive name brand, and then ultimately pairing them with real doctors’ names and credentials.” 

Evidence at trial demonstrated most of the pharmacies only existed on paper and were not real. According to a DOJ press release, Berro went to considerable effort to make the invented patients seem real, including “ensuring that all 3 addresses—the real doctor, the fake pharmacy, and the made-up patient—were in close, geographic proximity.” Berro was convicted after a 6-day trial and is scheduled to be sentenced in May 2023. She is facing 20 years in prison on each count. 

“This was a complicated scheme that abused dozens of programs established to help those who are legitimately unable to afford their medications,” said US Attorney Dawn N Ison.