Federal court grants summary judgment against pro se defendant who failed to respond to government's motion, finding violations of False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute through commission-based prescription referrals.
A federal district court in Alabama has entered a $31 million judgment against Robert L. Crites, a pharmaceutical salesman who participated in a wide-ranging kickback scheme that defrauded TRICARE of over $5.4 million through fraudulent prescription claims for compounded medications. The court granted the government's motion for partial summary judgment, finding that Crites violated both the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute by receiving commissions to procure TRICARE beneficiaries for prescriptions filled by Cloverland Drug, Inc., a Montgomery compounding pharmacy (U.S. v. Crites, No. 2:21-cv-00244-ECM-KFP (M.D. Ala. March 16, 2026)).
Background of the scheme. The case arose from operations at Cloverland Drug between February 2015 and January 2016. Under the ownership of David Saalwaechter, Cloverland had been a struggling traditional compounding pharmacy that marketed products directly to doctors in central Alabama. The business model changed dramatically after Saalwaechter hired Louis Orr Priester III as a salesperson in July 2014.
Priester operated as an independent contractor compensated through commissions based on a percentage of net profits from his sales. He built an extensive sales operation, hiring and overseeing multiple sales...
Federal court grants summary judgment against pro se defendant who failed to respond to government's motion, finding violations of False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute through commission-bas...