According to court records filed in San Diego by federal authorities, a small pharmacy in Utah and a doctor’s office in Tennessee have been implicated in an alleged kickback scheme that used San Diego County Marines to defraud the military’s health insurance provider out of at least $67 million.

The story published in the San Diego Tribune claims the allegations add to a growing number of investigations into fraudulent prescriptions of compound medications – high-priced drugs custom-made by pharmacists to tailor to a patient’s specific needs. The investigations have led to arrests in similar cases across the country and a change in how TRICARE – which serves 9.4 million active, retired and reserve military and their families – pays for such drugs.

In just the first four months of 2015, the costs of claims to TRICARE for compounded drugs surged to more than $1 billion, according to the insurer. Federal investigators say in court documents that a chunk of those claims came from a pharmacy in Bountiful, Utah, that was issuing prescriptions to patients in Southern California.

No arrests have been made in the San Diego-based investigation, which is ongoing. But federal authorities described their investigation in a sealed search warrant affidavit filed in March that was obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune and a complaint filed publicly by the U.S. Attorney’s Office as part of a civil asset forfeiture case against a Tennessee couple.

The pharmacy at the center of the probe was formerly known as The Medicine Shoppe, a franchise opened by noted compound pharmacist Kort Delost in 1993. The former president of the Utah Pharmacist Association and Young Pharmacist of the Year for Utah sold the business in 2014 to two people, who are identified in court documents only by the initials T.S. and W.W.

The pharmacy, in the town just north of Salt Lake City, had a license to ship medications to California, according to the complaint.

The vast majority of the prescriptions were authorized by emergency room physicians who served as medical directors for Choice MD, a medical practice in Cleveland, Tenn., owned by Jimmy and Ashley Collins, the court documents allege. The practice offers everything from primary care to therapeutic massage to Botox, according to its website. The physicians are not named and only referred to by their initials, S.V. and C.L. One of the doctors also signed off on prescriptions written by a nurse practitioner, the complaint states.

Authorities say The Medicine Shoppe billed TRICARE for 2,721 compound prescriptions authorized by S.V. from December 2014 to May 9, 2015, resulting in more than $47 million in reimbursements. During the same period, the doctor wrote three non-compounded prescriptions for TRICARE patients.

Investigators say the specialized drugs went to a network of Southern California Marines who were recruited by fellow Marines to participate in a medical study. The Marines were paid $100 to $300 a month to talk to the doctors over the phone in a telemedicine exam, the affidavit states. TRICARE allows telemedicine consultations, but they must be held in places such as a doctor’s office, not at home.

Investigators tracked some $45 million linked to The Medicine Shoppe that moved around in bank accounts owned by the Collinses and several entities in their control, including $4.4 million allegedly paid to unnamed recruiters during the first half of 2015, the affidavit states.

Prosecutors allege the Collinses laundered the illegal proceeds by buying four properties in Tennessee, including a farm and a shopping center called Colony Square, for a total of nearly $5.7 million.

In a motion asking a San Diego judge to dismiss the forfeiture, lawyers for the Collinses complained that the details of the allegations were sealed, making it difficult for them to respond to the claims of wrongdoing. The judge ordered the government to file the allegations publicly, which prosecutors did last week.

In the motion to dismiss, the lawyers also denied their clients were involved in any kind of healthcare fraud.

In mid-2015, The Medicine Shoppe changed its name to Prescriptions Plus Pharmacy. A photo on the pharmacy’s Facebook page shows workers changing out the sign on the building front, with the announcement: “New name, same great people! Beginning a new chapter.”

The pharmacy changed hands again in October 2016 and has been renamed Bountiful Drug, recapturing the pharmacy’s original name when it opened in 1910.

The new owner, pharmacist Mary Rogers, said Friday the business is “not associated” with the old owners and that she was not permitted to discuss the investigation.