(RNS) — A group of leaders in the Church of God in Christ have been accused in a lawsuit of defrauding a major pharmaceutical company out of more than $200 million in rebates for diabetes drugs.
In a complaint filed Tuesday (May 19) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, lawyers for Eli Lilly and Company alleged that a cost-sharing program covering millions of members of COGIC, a Pentecostal denomination, was a “sham.”
Instead of helping church members get access to Trulicity and other diabetes medications manufactured by Lilly, the program’s leaders worked with wholesalers to resell the drugs while collecting millions in rebates, the lawsuit claims.
The complaint names COGIC Bishop Jerry Maynard Sr. of Nashville, along with his son and daughter, both COGIC pastors, as well as Elder Readus C. Smith III, the general secretary of health and business for the denomination, and several wholesalers.
Most of the alleged fraud involved reimbursements submitted by DrugPlace, Inc., a pharmacy that shared office space with Community Health, a program run by the Maynards and Smith. Community Health is also known as COGIC’s Department of Health.
The lawsuit says DrugPlace purchased “enormous quantities” of Trulicity, allegedly for church members.
“After purchasing the medication, Defendants seek rebates from Lilly for purported utilization of the medication, filtering the rebate claims through a series of intermediaries,” according to the complai …