A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Ruthia He, the founder and CEO of Done, a California-based digital health company, and David Brody, its clinical president, for their roles in a years-long scheme to illegally distribute Adderall over the internet and conspire to commit health care fraud in connection with the submission of false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement for Adderall and other stimulants. Ruthia He was also convicted of conspiring to obstruct justice.
Done Global Inc. was founded in 2019 by Ruthia He, a former Facebook product designer with no medical background. The company capitalized on regulatory changes introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) relaxed rules requiring in-person consultations for prescribing controlled substances. This allowed Done to offer online access to ADHD medications, including Adderall, Ritalin, and Vyvanse.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, He and Brody conspired with others to build a billion-dollar technology company and raise money from investors by providing easy access to over 40 million pills of Adderall and other stimulants in exchange for payment of a monthly subscription fee. They both spent over $40 million on deceptive advertisements on social media networks that sought to convince Americans challenged by a lack of structure during the COVID-19 pandemic that they were suffering from ADHD. Defendants also paid for targeted keyword search advertisements for drug seekers who wanted to obtain Adderall without a legal prescription.
The evidence at trial showed that He and Brody sought to place “hard limits” on clinical discretion by limiting the length of the initial appointment to less than half the length of a typical psychiatric examination, and seeking to increase profits by refusing to pay for any follow-up treatment. In order to facilitate the illegal prescriptions, He paid nurse practitioners around the country up to $60,000 per month to refill prescriptions without clinical interaction, and enabled an “auto-refill” technology feature where patients could receive prescriptions without clinical interaction for years based on an auto-generated email sent each month requesting additional prescriptions. The auto-refill policy, in some instances, resulted in prescriptions being issued for deceased patients.
He instructed employees that successful technology companies profit off addiction, and offered an expensive luxury electric vehicle to employees who broke the law. Brody told nurses to continue prescribing Adderall, even to patients who were abusing other medications, and to disregard the risk of going to jail. He and Brody also prohibited independent clinical practitioners from discharging patients, and patients were not discharged and continued to receive Adderall even after concerned family members repeatedly notified Done that their children were suffering from bipolar, Adderall-induced psychosis, or other mental health conditions that could be worsened by continued prescriptions.
In order to ensure that members continued paying monthly subscription fees, He, Brody, and others conspired to defraud insurers so that Done members would be able to use insurance to pay for Adderall dispensed at pharmacies. He, Brody, and others submitted false and fraudulent prior authorization requests to insurers, which claimed that Done followed the DSM-5 in diagnosing ADHD, utilized urine drug screens, and falsely claimed that non-stimulants had previously been tried without success. As a result, Medicare, Medicaid, and the commercial insurers paid in excess of approximately $14 million.
In 2022, national media outlets reported that Done was making Adderall too easy to get online. In response to questions from the media, investors, and certain major pharmacy chains, the defendants made deceptive statements about Done’s policies. While internal documents showed that the defendants followed a “customer-first” philosophy where they attempted to obtain customer approval ratings higher than America’s highest-rated retailers, offered second opinions to patients who complained of being denied Adderall, and that He – who had no medical training – ultimately was responsible for approving clinical practices, The defendants falsely denied the existence of these policies and claimed Done was run by independent clinical leadership.
To obstruct the government’s investigation, the evidence at trial showed that He moved operations to China to make personnel and evidence unavailable. He limited her communications on company platforms, used encrypted messaging apps with disappearing messages, and deleted incriminatory documents, such as language encouraging Done providers to provide Adderall even to patients who did not have ADHD. He also transferred over $1 million to a Chinese shell company named Make Believe Asia, conducted internet searches for countries that did not have extradition, and was stopped by law enforcement leaving the country.
He and Brody were both convicted of one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, four counts of distribution of controlled substances, and one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He was also convicted of one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. He and Brody each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and distribution of controlled substances counts. Sentencings are set for Feb. 25, 2026. Judge Breyer will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.