Barbara L. McQuade, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan

Prior to serving as U.S. Attorney, she served for twelve years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Detroit. As Deputy Chief of the National Security Unit, she prosecuted cases in a variety of areas, including terrorism financing, foreign agents, and export violations. She also prosecuted cases dealing with violent crime, narcotics, racketeering, and cybercrime while serving as a federal prosecutor.

McQuade also served as a law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, where she taught criminal law from 2003 to 2009.


McQuade practiced law at Butzel Long in Detroit prior to joining the U.S. Attorney's Office. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Bernard A. Friedman on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School.

McQuade recently made headlines for her announcement of the indictment of twenty six people for their involvement in a massive health care fraud and drug distribution scheme. The individuals include pharmacists, doctors, a psychologist and an accountant, as well as over twenty pharmacies throughout the state.

According to the August 3^rd myfoxdetroit.com article, ''26 Indicted in Massive Michigan Health Care Fraud'', Special Agent in Charge Robert L. Corso of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Special Agent in Charge Andrew G. Arena of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Lamont Pugh, Special Agent in Charge of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services joined McQuade in her announcement of the indictment, returned by a federal grand jury.

McQuade was quoted as saying: ''Health care fraud steals funds from programs designed to benefit patients, and we all pay for it. Federal and state investigators have teamed up in recent months to detect and prosecute those who commit health care fraud, and we hope that the strength of our efforts will have a deterrent effect.''

Essentially, those indicted would write prescriptions in exchange for kickbacks and other inducements, and bill insurers for services allegedly provided to patients, regardless of whether or not the prescriptions were necessary, or whether they had been provided. In addition, the indictment alleges, among other things, the scheme distributed controlled substances at select pharmacies, in order to submit false claims to insurers.

Per the article, the indictment alleges the accused pharmacies ''billed the Medicare program not less than $37.7 million for medications purportedly provided to Medicare beneficiaries over the course of the scheme (since January 2006), and not less than $20.8 million for medications purportedly provided to Medicaid beneficiaries over the course of the scheme.''

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