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Florida Marketing Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Fraud in HIV Medication Scheme

Jonathan Simeon Gholston (35, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to conspiring to receive kickbacks in return for the referral of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries for the provision of HIV prophylactic medications. He faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison. According to the plea agreement, Gholston owned and operated a marketing company that entered into an agreement with a Jacksonville pharmacy to market HIV post-exposure prophylactic medications that would be provided by the pharmacy. The agreement provided that pharmacy would pay the marketing company $200 for every person who was referred for the provision of HIV medications but that the pharmacy would pay this amount only if a claim submitted on behalf of the person was paid by Medicare or Medicaid. The marketing company in turn paid its marketers a set amount, usually $50, for every person they referred, but it paid this amount only if the claim for that person was paid by Medicare or Medicaid.