By SDCN Staff
The founder and former Chief Executive Officer Ruthia He of Done Global Incorporated., a California-based digital mental health company, was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison and a fine of $1 million for orchestrating a scheme that used her company’s technology platform, compensation structure, and clinical protocols to unlawfully distribute over 37 million pills of Adderall, defraud insurers of over $12 million, and obstruct the federal investigation that followed.
According to federal prosecutors, He spent over $40 million on social media advertisements to deceive Americans into believing they had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, falsely diagnosing patients with the disorder, and distributing Adderall, including to patients who the company was warned were suffering from Adderall psychosis, bipolar, depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions that were worsened by stimulant prescriptions.
The goal of the conspiracy was to obtain an over $1 billion valuation by fueling user growth through a subscription for prescription business model whereby patients paid a monthly fee for prescriptions that were automatically refilled and obtained through a frictionless technology platform. Co-defendant David Brody, Done’s former clinical president, was separately sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of $1 million.
“Ruthia He hid behind the cloak of medicine to deceive the public, defraud health care programs, and unlawfully deal highly addictive drugs to vulnerable patients,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the National Fraud Enforcement Division. “Ruthia He’s business model cast aside medical necessity and patient care in favor of profit and greed.”
According to court documents, He and Brody used a technology platform, management incentives, and clinical protocols that were designed together to corrupt medical decision-making at a national scale. They sought to build a billion-dollar technology company and raise money from investors by advertising easy access to Adderall and other stimulants in exchange for payment of a monthly subscription fee:
“Drug traffickers are driven by profits, not people,” said U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian for the Northern District of California. “Whether they operate from a street corner or from a computer, the motive and the resulting harm are the same. These defendants made a choice to operate a telehealth platform that ignored medical necessity and as a result put patients at risk.”
