Kihei doctor sentenced to 6 months in federal prison | News, Sports, Jobs

The Maui News

A Kihei doctor was sentenced to six months in federal prison for writing fraudulent prescriptions and submitting false claims for payment of medical services.

Mark Lipetz, 50, who owned and operated the now-closed South Maui Clinic, was ordered to pay $15,446 in restitution as part of the sentence imposed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, according to court records.

In July, Lipetz pleaded guilty to two counts of health care fraud and one count of acquiring a controlled substance through misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge.

According to court documents and information presented in court, Lipetz, then a licensed physician, wrote multiple prescriptions for medications using the names and addresses of actual patients from January 2017 to June 2018.

But instead of giving the medication to those patients, he used the drugs for other purposes, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii. Lipetz gave the medication to other patients or created a stockpile so he could give “trial samplesî to patients, according to court documents.

According to a sentencing memorandum filed by Lipetz’s attorney, Cary Virtue, nearly 60 patients wrote letters asking for leniency for Lipetz. He had already agreed to permanently surrender his medical license so he will never practice as a doctor again, according to the memorandum.

Lipetz also surrendered his Drug Enforcement Administration controlled substance registration so he can no longer prescribe narcotic medication, the memorandum says.

He paid a $64,820 fine in a settlement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, as well as a $15,430 forfeiture settlement.

U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi sentenced Lipetz, who had been released on a $25,000 unsecured bond. After he completes the prison term, Lipetz was ordered to serve three years on supervised release.

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