Ruthia He, founder and former CEO of California-based digital mental health company Done Global Inc., was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $1 million for orchestrating a scheme that used the company’s technology platform, compensation structure and clinical protocols to unlawfully distribute more than 37 million pills of Adderall, defraud insurers of more than $12 million and obstruct the ensuing federal investigation, according to the Justice Department.

Co-defendant David Brody, Done’s former clinical president, was separately sentenced to two years in prison and fined $1 million.

According to the Justice Department, He spent more than $40 million on social media advertisements designed to convince Americans they had ADHD, leading to false diagnoses and stimulant prescriptions, including for patients whom Done had been warned were suffering from Adderall-induced psychosis, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions worsened by stimulant prescriptions. Prosecutors said the scheme was intended to achieve a company valuation exceeding $1 billion through a subscription-based prescription model featuring automatic refills.

Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the National Fraud Enforcement Division said He “hid behind the cloak of medicine to deceive the public, defraud health care programs, and unlawfully deal highly addictive drugs to vulnerable patients.” U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian for the Northern District of California said telehealth companies prescribing controlled substances must follow medical standards, prioritize patient safety and comply with the law.

According to trial evidence cited by the Justice Department, Done paid clinicians up to $60,000 a month for signing Adderall prescriptions every 30 seconds while refusing to hire or firing clinicians who declined to participate in the scheme. Brody personally authorized prescriptions for 394,324 Schedule II stimulant pills for 6,559 Done members he never evaluated or reviewed records for, prosecutors said. He also told He that his ideal job would allow him to make money “WITHOUT EVER HAVING TO SEE OR TALK TO THE PATIENT[s].”

To defraud insurers, He, Brody and others submitted false prior authorization requests claiming Done followed DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, used urine drug screens and, in some cases, that non-stimulant treatments had previously been tried without success, causing Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers to pay more than $12.3 million, according to the Justice Department.

As the investigation advanced, prosecutors said He moved company operations to China, directed employees to use encrypted messaging apps, enabled disappearing messages, deleted incriminating records and researched non-extradition countries. In February 2023, agents intercepted her on her way to the airport for a flight to Hong Kong, where she surrendered her passport. Prosecutors said she later secretly obtained a Chinese travel document, concealed it from the court and law enforcement, and that its discovery ultimately led to her pretrial detention because she was deemed a flight risk.