Done Global Founder and Clinical President Sentenced for $90 Million Adderall Distribution and Health Care Fraud Scheme

Done Global Founder and Clinical President Sentenced for $90 Million Adderall Distribution and Health Care Fraud Scheme

On July 7, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Ruthia He, founder and former CEO of Done Global Inc., a California-based digital mental health startup, received a six-year prison sentence and a $1 million fine. He built Done’s platform to funnel Adderall prescriptions to paying subscribers at scale, and the government alleged she used the company’s technology, pay structure, and clinical workflows to push out more than 37 million Adderall pills while defrauding insurers of over $12 million and obstructing the ensuing federal probe. David Brody, Done’s former clinical president, received a two-year sentence and a separate $1 million fine.

The government’s case centered on Done’s business model: customers paid a monthly subscription fee and, in return, received stimulant prescriptions that were automatically refilled with minimal clinical oversight. He allegedly poured more than $40 million into social media ads designed to convince users they suffered from ADHD, and the company continued dispensing Adderall even after being warned that certain patients were experiencing psychosis, bipolar episodes, and other serious conditions aggravated by stimulants. The ultimate aim, according to prosecutors, was to drive user growth toward a company valuation exceeding $1 billion.

He and Brody also submitted false prior authorization requests to insurers, misrepresenting that Done adhered to DSM-5 criteria, administered drug screens, and attempted non-stimulant alternatives before prescribing. As a result, Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurers paid out over $14 million. Brody alone signed off on prescriptions for more than 394,000 Schedule II stimulant pills dispensed to over 6,500 patients he had never examined.

After media reports in 2022 raised questions about Done’s practices, He relocated company operations to China, destroyed documents, communicated through encrypted apps with auto-delete features, and wired more than $1 million to a Chinese shell entity. She was stopped by law enforcement while trying to leave the United States.

A federal jury in San Francisco convicted both defendants in November 2025 on charges including conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, substantive distribution counts, and conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He was also convicted of conspiring to obstruct justice.

The case is US v. Ruthia He (a/k/a Rujia He) and David Brody, case number 3:24-CR-329, in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Read the DOJ’s press release here.

DOJ, HHS Officials Highlight “Whole of Government” Approach to Healthcare Fraud

At the American Health Law Association’s annual meeting in New York, senior officials from the DOJ and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) described an unprecedented year for healthcare fraud enforcement and emphasized the deepening collaboration between their agencies. DOJ Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brenna Jenny highlighted the relaunched False Claims Act (FCA) Working Group, a joint DOJ-HHS initiative aimed at identifying untapped areas of fraud, as a centerpiece of the agencies’ coordinated enforcement strategy. The DOJ secured $6.8 billion in FCA settlements and judgments this past year and charged the largest-ever number of Medicaid fraud defendants in a single enforcement action.

Officials also spotlighted the growing role of technology and data-sharing in their efforts. CMS Deputy Assistant Administrator Kimberly Brandt described artificial intelligence-(AI) driven provider screening tools that flag high-risk Medicare providers for site visits and identify suspect affiliations using housing, tax, and utility records. The panel pointed to the agencies’ joint crackdown on skin substitute billing, where CMS’s January reimbursement cap led to a 99% drop in billing following an OIG report finding that Part B spending on the products had surged 640%, as a model for the whole-of-government approach. DOJ is now pursuing enforcement actions against entities that allegedly generated over a billion dollars in fraudulent claims related to those products. Looking ahead, CMS plans to issue a proposed rule this fall under its CRUSH initiative to further strengthen program integrity.

CVS to Pay $36.5 Million to Settle Allegations of Over-Dispensing Insulin Pens to Medicaid Programs

In June, a bipartisan coalition of 37 attorneys general and the DOJ announced a $36.5 million settlement with CVS Pharmacy, Inc. to resolve allegations that, from 2010 to 2020, CVS violated the FCA in connection with its billing and dispensing of insulin pens to patients enrolled in government healthcare programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

The settlement resolves allegations that CVS improperly requested and received reimbursement for premature refills, dispensed more insulin pens than patients needed according to their prescriptions, and falsely under-reported the days-of-supply of insulin that its pharmacies dispensed. According to the government, CVS knowingly gave patients more insulin than prescribed and misrepresented refill timelines — ignoring official rules requiring pharmacies to use accurate usage data to calculate refill dates — to receive payment for unauthorized, unnecessary medication. CVS’s conduct allegedly caused government healthcare programs to pay for substantial amounts of insulin that patients did not need and doctors never authorized.

Under the terms of the settlement, more than $25 million will be paid to state Medicaid programs across the participating states, with the remainder going to the federal government.

The California Attorney General’s press release can be found here.