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Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the network of pharmacies run by businessmen Alpesh and Manish Patel was struggling.
At least 15 of its 82 pharmacies had been shuttered or sold amid mounting debts and mismanagement. It faced lawsuits alleging it owed millions of dollars to pharmaceutical suppliers and shipping companies. Employees and patients had started to accuse the company of fraud. Some employees who had left were being questioned by federal law enforcement agents. One top executive had previously been convicted for his role in running a national opioid pill mill; two others, including Manish Patel himself, were barred from doing business with federal health-care programs due to allegations ranging from racketeering to conspiracy to paying illegal kickbacks.
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But then the pandemic presented an opportunity: loosened rules for telehealth and long-distance prescription writing combined with massive demand for unproven COVID-19 treatments could mean big money. And the Patels soon capitalized.
First, they were able to take advantage of an influx of cash from the federal government. Between the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and April 2021, companies registered to the Patels received at least $7 million in loans from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, according to an analysis of corporate records shared with TIME by a Texas-based medical litigation support firm, Reason and Results.
Then, in Oct. 2020, the Patels quietly filed a name change for one of their troubled pharmacy companies in Auburndale, Fla., distancing it from a previous multi-million dollar settlement for filling fraudulent prescriptions. The newly rebranded digital pharmacy was named Ravkoo. And with the help of a $173,733 PPP loan, it would soon become a key player in a booming industry that fills telemedicine prescriptions for bogus COVID-19 treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine through a partnership with America’s Frontline…
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Source : time
