Jacksonville Marketing Company Owner Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Defraud Medicare and Medicaid in the Provision of HIV Prophylactic Medications
Jacksonville, Florida / Tuesday, March 3, 2026 – Jonathan Simeon Gholston (35, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to conspiring to receive kickbacks in return for the referral of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries for the provision of HIV prophylactic medications. He faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
According to the plea agreement, Gholston owned and operated a marketing company that entered into an agreement with a Jacksonville pharmacy to market HIV post-exposure prophylactic medications that would be provided by the pharmacy. HIV post-exposure prophylactic medications are medicines that must be taken very soon after a possible exposure to HIV to prevent the virus from taking hold in the body.
The marketing company’s representatives set up tents and tables in Jacksonville, generally in low-income areas and usually near store fronts, and offered to provide free, government-sponsored cellphones to anyone who stopped and agreed to provide their personal information to obtain the phones. As a result of the marketing company’s agreement with the pharmacy, while obtaining the personal information necessary for the person to receive the free cellphone, the marketers also obtained health insurance information, including whether the person was covered by Medicare or Medicaid. The persons who were signed up by the marketers believed that they were agreeing only to receive a free cellphone and did not request or agree to receive HIV medications.
The agreement between the marketing company and the pharmacy provided that pharmacy would pay the marketing company $200 for every person who was referred for the provision of HIV medications but that the pharmacy would pay this amount only if a claim submitted on behalf of the person was paid by Medicare or Medicaid. The marketing company in turn paid its marketers a set amount, usually $50, for every person they referred, but it paid this amount only if the claim for that person was paid by Medicare or Medicaid. Payments to marketers of a set amount based on whether a claim is paid are illegal kickbacks under federal law.
The information gathered by the marketers was sent to the pharmacy, which used the information to generate prescriptions for HIV prophylactic medications that were authorized by a nurse practitioner. The nurse practitioner had never seen, spoken with, or performed any manner of evaluation, examination, or test on the persons for whom the prescriptions were issued. The pharmacy filled the prescriptions, submitted claims to Medicare or Medicaid for the medications, and was reimbursed approximately $4,000 per month for each person for whom a claim was paid.
During the investigation, law enforcement agents interviewed numerous individuals who had received HIV medications without their request or consent. For some of these, taking the medications could have seriously endangered their health, given pre-existing medical conditions from which they suffered.
The actions of Gholston and his co‑conspirators caused the submission of approximately 20,316 fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid, resulting in reimbursements from Medicare totaling approximately $11,681,479 and reimbursements from Medicaid totaling approximately $12,536,267. Accordingly, the total loss to these programs was approximately $24,217,746. From this amount, Gholston received a total of approximately $2,273,000, which he has agreed to forfeit to the government.
This case was investigated by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier. The forfeiture is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Harrington.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida
