October 31, 2022

TRENTON, N.J. – A Monmouth County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 63 months in prison for defrauding lenders of $50 million dollars in connection with an invoice factoring scheme perpetrated over nearly a decade, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Vincent Galano, 60, of Oceanport, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi to an information charging him with one count of wire fraud. Judge Quraishi imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court:

Accounts receivable factoring, also known as invoice financing (factoring), is a financial transaction through which a company obtains cash by selling its unpaid invoices, ordinarily at a discount, to a factor. Factoring clients send their debtors notices of assignment naming the factor as the assignee of the debt owed on the invoices. The factor collects invoiced amounts owed by the clients’ debtors and, upon collection of the entire invoiced amount, pays its clients the balance of the invoice, deducting the factor’s fees.

Galano formed PF Funding LLC (PF Funding) in 1996 for the purpose of factoring accounts receivables for various corporate clients. In 2007, PF Funding entered into a secured lending relationship with a single purpose entity created to finance PF Funding’s factoring business. Shortly thereafter, the factoring lender established a line of credit as a means to provide PF Funding capital to grow its receiveables portfolio. Over the next several years, PF Funding grew its factoring business by drawing from the line of credit while maintaining as current its loan obligations to the factoring lender. However, beginning in 2011, Galano, through PF Funding, purchased increasingly greater numbers of invoices for which he was unable to collect the debt owed on the receivables. To justify PF Funding’s continued draws from the line of credit, Galano concealed this bad debt from the factoring lender by misrepresenting the bad invoices as collectible on reports he routinely provided to the factoring lender. In other instances, Galano mischaracterized invoices that had already been paid and collected as outstanding and capable of being factored, in essence double-counting to drive up the outstanding receivables. In the reports provided to the factoring lender, Galano manipulated the overall value of PF Funding’s portfolio of outstanding invoices in an amount proportional to the funds he needed to draw from the unsecured line of credit to maintain as current the principal and interest payments on his outstanding loans.

Engaging in this pattern of misrepresentation over nearly a decade, by 2020 PF Funding had ultimately defaulted under its loan obligations, owing approximately $50 million to its lenders by virtue of the scheme. During a May 2020 telephone call with his lenders, Galano admitted that he had concealed significant losses suffered by PF Funding over many years. He admitted that he had routinely distributed to lenders over that prolonged period fabricated reports that overstated the number and value of outstanding invoices which the reports represented as payable.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Quraishi sentenced Galano to two years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $50 million.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric A. Boden of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Trenton.

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Defense counsel: Christopher Porrino Esq. and Rachel Maimin Esq., New York

Dan Irvine, 50, of Oceanport, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by video conference before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler to an information charging him with conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

August 6, 2020

A pharmaceutical representative today admitted his role in a conspiracy to defraud New Jersey state health benefits programs, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Dan Irvine, 50, of Oceanport, New Jersey, pleaded guilty by video conference before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler to an information charging him with conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Compounded medications are specialty medications mixed by a pharmacist to meet the specific medical needs of an individual patient. Although compounded drugs are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), they are properly prescribed when a physician determines that an FDA-approved medication does not meet the health needs of a particular patient, such as if a patient is allergic to a dye or other ingredient.

Between October 2015 and March 2016, Irvine participated in a conspiracy that targeted insurance plans that paid thousands of dollars for certain prescription compound medications – including vitamins and pain creams – from an out-of-state pharmacy, identified in the information as “Compounding Pharmacy.” The conspirators found patients with these insurance plans, particularly New Jersey state and local government and education employees. An entity referred to as the “Pharmacy Benefits Administrator” provided pharmacy benefit management services for the State Health Benefits Program, which covers qualified state and local government employees, retirees, and eligible dependents; the School Employees’ Health Benefits Program, which covers qualified local education employees, retirees, and eligible dependents; and other insurance plans. The Pharmacy Benefits Administrator paid prescription drug claims and then billed the State of New Jersey or the other insurance plans for the amounts paid.

Irvine obtained insurance information from individuals with favorable insurance coverage and filled out prescriptions for compounded medications. Irvine selected medications based on their high insurance reimbursements and selected the maximum quantities and refills to generate the highest insurance reimbursements. Irvine then had doctors sign the prescriptions without the doctors examining the individuals or determining that the individuals had a medical necessity for the compounded medications. Irvine faxed the completed, signed prescriptions to the Compounding Pharmacy. Irvine had an agreement to receive as a commission a portion of the amount paid by the Pharmacy Benefits Administrator for prescriptions he obtained. He received $63,017 in commissions.

Irvine faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss from the offense. As part of his plea agreement, Irvine must forfeit $63,017 in criminal proceeds and pay restitution of at least $208,989. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16, 2020.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited agents of the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Joe Denahan in Newark; IRS – Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Montanez in Newark; and the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, New York Region, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael C. Mikulka, with the investigation leading to the guilty plea. He also thanked the Division of Pensions and Financial Transactions in the State Attorney General’s Office, under the direction of Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and Division Chief Aimee Nason, for its assistance in the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. David Walk Jr. and Christina O. Hud of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.

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Defense counsel: Scott McBride Esq., and Eric Suggs Esq., Roseland, New Jersey

• Irvine.Information.pdf