ILLINOIS VETERANS AFFAIRS OFFICIAL PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY AND ACCEPTING ILLEGAL GRATUITIES

On June 30, 2008, Joel M. Gostomelsky, the director of the Hines, IL Department of Veteran Affairs (“VA”) Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (“CMOP”) pled guilty to one count of conspiring to allow a subordinate to participate in decisions directly affecting the financial interests of the subordinate’s spouse and one count of accepting illegal gratuities.
Between 2000 and 2007, Mr. Gostomelsky allowed his subordinate to hire temporary pharmacists for CMOP supplied by his spouse’s company. Mr. Gostomelsky also lied about his subordinate’s role in the ordering of these services. He also admitted to receiving illegal gratuities from 1998 to 2005 from another vendor that provided services to CMOP.

Mr. Gostomelsky was the director of CMOP in Hines, IL from 1995 to April 2007. Seven CMOP pharmacies, including the one in Hines, IL, throughout the nation process and send more than 100,000 prescriptions to veterans daily.

Andre Barlow
(202) 589-1834
abarlow@dbmlawgroup.com