Scheme to Defraud the State by Unlawfully Selling Prescriptions

New York Penal Law § 190.70

Scheme to Defraud the State by Unlawfully Selling Prescriptions is a Class A misdemeanor.  The possible sentence is up to one year in jail.

The crime of Scheme to Defraud the State by Unlawfully Selling Prescriptions requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intended to defraud the state by engaging in a scheme to make, sell, deliver prescriptions for sale, or offer prescriptions for sale, and obtained goods or services from the state worth at least $1,000 by doing so.  A conviction under this statute is also possible if the defendant caused the state to reimburse someone else for the goods or services.

A "scheme" requires proof of a systematic, ongoing course of conduct.

"Intent" means a conscious objective or purpose.  Thus, a person acts with an intent to defraud or an intent to obtain money or property by false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, when that person's conscious objective or purpose is to do so.

Full Text of New York Penal Law § 190.70

"A person is guilty of a scheme to defraud the state by unlawfully selling prescriptions when he or she engages, with intent to defraud the state, in a scheme constituting a systematic, ongoing course of conduct to make, sell, deliver for sale or offer for sale one or more prescriptions and so obtains goods or services from the state with a value in excess of one thousand dollars or causes the state to reimburse another in excess of one thousand dollars for the delivery of such goods or services."

"Scheme to defraud the state by unlawfully selling prescriptions is a class A misdemeanor."

John Howley, Esq.
The Howley Law Firm P.C.
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New York, New York 10118
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