A pair of north Mississippians have been indicted as part of a sweeping bust of alleged fraudsters in the healthcare industry.
The U.S. Departments of Justice announced Monday that its 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown was successful in a historic way. The initiative resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants, including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals.
The defendants are accused of participating in an array of healthcare fraud schemes involving more than $14.6 billion in intended loss. Federal and state law enforcement agencies across the country partnered in the unprecedented effort to combat fraud that exploited patients and taxpayers.
“This record-setting Health Care Fraud Takedown delivers justice to criminal actors who prey upon our most vulnerable citizens and steal from hardworking American taxpayers,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the announcement. “Make no mistake – this administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of our communities.”
Officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi said Corinth natives Ricky Wayne Quinn and John Anthony Null were netted in the larger effort, both of whom are charged with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.
The pair is accused of submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid for more than $700,000 for prescription drugs.
The indictment alleges that the two pharmacists paid cash to runners in the community who brought them legitimate prescriptions for prescription drugs. Quinn and Null then apparently dispensed the drugs to patients, who provided the unopened prescription drugs to the runners. In exchange for cash, the runners would then allegedly return the unopened drugs back to Quinn and Null to be restocked in order to be billed to Medicare and Medicaid again.
The alleged scheme allowed Quinn and Null to repeatedly bill Medicare and Medicaid numerous times for the same prescription drug products.
The nationwide effort also involved the seizure of over $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services also announced that it successfully prevented more than $4 billion from being paid in response to false and fraudulent claims.
In addition to criminal charges, civil charges have been brought against 20 defendants for $14.2 million in alleged fraud, along with civil settlements with 106 defendants that total $34.3 million.
“As part of making healthcare accessible and affordable to all Americans, HHS will aggressively work with our law enforcement partners to eliminate the pervasive health care fraud that bedeviled this agency under the former administration and drove up costs,” U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.
Quinn and Null’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clayton Dabbs of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi.
