"With an advertising budget that ran up to $40 million, Done Global paid TikTok and Instagram creators to make short skit ads about the relatability of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder - many went semi-viral, funnelling more and more people to the company. Then, Done Global made it easy for these customers to get prescription stimulants like Adderall, by enforcing brief telehealth appointment times, auto-refilling orders and submitting fraudulent insurance requests, prosecutors said."
"Ruthia He, the San Francisco startup's CEO, and David Brody, its chief medical officer, now face sentencing for multiple counts of distributing controlled substances, plus, for He, a count of conspiring to obstruct justice. The jury verdict closes a legal saga that began with the two executives' indictments in June 2024. Their arrests made such major news that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out an alert about potential disruptions to people's supply of prescription stimulants."
Two Done Global executives were convicted of fraud and illegal drug dealing by a San Francisco jury for distributing prescription stimulants through the company's telehealth service. The CEO, Ruthia He, and chief medical officer David Brody face sentencing on multiple counts of distributing controlled substances; He also faces a conspiracy-to-obstruct-justice count. Done Global spent up to $40 million on social-media ads, paid creators to produce viral TikTok and Instagram skits, and streamlined telehealth visits with brief appointments, auto-refills and fraudulent insurance requests to obtain Adderall. Federal agencies characterized the operation as a major abuse of telehealth and a public-health concern.
Read at SFGATE
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