Owner of former Hempfield drug testing lab pleads guilty to 'kickback' conspiracy

The owner of a now-defunct clinical drug testing laboratory in Hempfield pleaded guilty this week to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, according to U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady.

William J. Hughes, 73, of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty to one count before Judge David S. Cercone.

With the guilty plea, Brady said Cercone was advised that Hughes owned and operated Universal Oral Fluid Labs, a clinical drug testing laboratory located on Willow Crossing Road.

From October 2011 to August 2013, Hughes, through his lab, entered into a kickbacks-for-referrals arrangement with the co-defendant, Dr. Varanise C. Booker, 62, of Louisville, Ky.

Booker received about $840,000 in kickbacks from Hughes for patient referrals, according to the grand jury indictment last year.

The indictment alleges the scheme defrauded Medicare and Medicaid programs and Hughes’s laboratory received “millions of dollars from third party payors, including Medicare, based on Dr. Booker’s referrals.” The case against Booker still is proceeding in federal court, according to dockets.

Brady said, pursuant to this arrangement, Hughes agreed to pay the co-defendant to refer patients, including patients who were covered under the Medicare Program and Kentucky Medicaid Program, to his lab for drug testing services in exchange for cash payments. Between September 2012 and August 2013, the lab obtained $1.6 million from the Kentucky Medicaid Program based on these referrals.

Cercone scheduled sentencing Nov. 9. The law provides for a total sentence of not more than 5 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.