The fen-phen diet pill combo may have been dismantled with the 1997 withdrawal of one of the two pills, but the episode lives on. A Florida cardiologist- 77-year-old Abdur Razzak Tai - was indicted today for submitting fraudulent claims to a huge settlement fund that was created in the wake of massive litigation brought by tens of thousands of overweight consumers.

A 13-count indictment, which charges Tai with mail fraud and wire fraud, claims he reviewed echocardiograms for more than 1,100 patients who filed claims with the American Home Product Settlement Trust (American Home Products was the former name for Wyeth, which is now owned by Pfizer and marketed one, Pondimin, or fenfluramine, one of the two fen-phen pills. Wyeth yanked Pondimin and Redux, a chemical cousin, due to serious heart and lung damage).

According to the indictment, Tai falsely certified the tests showed patients had sustained heart damage, but none had actually been harmed. The US Attorney in Philadelphia, which filed the charges, says Tai struck deals with various lawyers who represented diet-pill users who thought they had been hurt. Tai agreed read to read the results of the tests to determine if compensation was warranted.

At least one lawyer paid Tai a set fee of $100 for each echocardiogram that he read and another $1,500 for each claim that qualified for benefits, but after payment was made by the fund. But the feds say he wrote reports and signed certifications that some diet-pill users suffered heart damage, when he knew they hadn’t.

All totaled, Tai certified patients falsely qualified for settlement benefits worth up to hundreds of thousands of dollars each. The average payment was about $350,000, according to the indictment. If convicted, he faces up to 260 years in jail, a $3.25 million fine, 3 years supervised release and a $1,300 special assessment.

This is far from the first time that fraud has been alleged in connection with the fen-phen settlement.
One lawyer was convicted of swindling Wyeth out of $6.7 million by filing client claims of about $250,000 each for people who supposedly suffered harm, but had no legitimate health problems (see this). Another lawyer was sued by former clients who claimed he improperly fed his own bank account by charging them for echocardiograms that were given to thousands of other people who he ultimately did not represent (see this).