State sues retirees over kickback scheme

Attorney General George Jepsen on Tuesday announced a wide-ranging lawsuit over an alleged $11 million kickback scheme involving 12 current and former state employees who were paid millions of dollars by a Florida-based pharmacy.

Jepsen, the state’s top civil lawyer, charges that Assured Rx gave Nicholas Maulucci of Simsbury, a former correction officer, and his former wife more than $2.65 million to file false claims under the state’s drug benefit plan for employees.

In all, nine retirees and two active employees of the Department of Correction are named in the lawsuit, as is one employee from the Department of Developmental Services.

“These allegations are deeply troubling and completely unacceptable,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said in reaction. “If proven true, they run afoul of the very core of what it means to be a public servant.”

The state employee pharmacy plan paid more than $10.9 million for prescriptions related to the alleged fraud-and-kickback scheme. Jepsen is seeking triple damages and civil penalties. The investigation was prompted from a complaint by state Comptroller Kevin Lembo, who administers the pharmacy plan for state workers.

“The fraud we are alleging in this lawsuit is simply egregious,” Jepsen said in a statement.

“Today’s action should send a clear-cut message,” Lembo said. “When you defraud the state’s health plan, you will get caught and you will face consequences. The state health plan is one of the most efficient plans in the nation, and we make every effort to monitor potentially troubling trends or transactions.”

Other defendants include Benjamin Franco, of East Haven, a retiree of the state Department of Correction, who along with his wife cost the plan $524,542; and Paul Germano, of Berlin, also a retiree of the state Department of Correction, who allegedly cost the plan $241,437. Other past and present employees reside in Wethersfield, Enfield, Stafford Springs, Southwick, Mass., and East Longmeadow, Mass.