Two north Alabama men have been sentenced to federal prison as part of a series of cases involving multi-million-dollar health care fraud and kickback conspiracies.

U.S. District Court Judge L. Scott Coogler sentenced Brian Bowman, 42, of Gadsden, to eight years in prison, and Jason Max Akin, 46, of Florence, to three-and-a-half years in prison.

Bowman pleaded guilty to health care fraud conspiracy in December 2021, related to his work at Dr. Mark Murphy’s medical practice, North Alabama Pain Services.

In May 2023, Akin pleaded guilty to health care fraud in connection with the fraud at Watson Rx Solutions.

According to Bowman’s plea agreement, he marketed electro-diagnostic testing to medical providers such as Murphy, and was paid a kickback for each test doctors ordered. Bowman received nearly a million dollars in kickbacks from QBR, a Huntsville-based electro-diagnostic testing company, for Murphy’s orders alone. Bowman also marketed high-reimbursing specialty prescription drugs to providers and received payments for the prescriptions he generated.

Mark Murphy, 66, and his wife Jennifer, 66, both of Lewisburg, Tennessee, were found guilty of drug distribution, fraud, and kickback crimes. The Murphys operated North Alabama Pain Services, which closed its Decatur and Madison offices in early 2017.

According to Akin’s plea agreement, he was part owner, worked as a pharmacy technician, and helped run sales operations at Watson Rx. Akin paid Bowman and his sales group to generate specialty drug prescriptions from doctors that would be billed to and paid by health insurance plans.

Among the people Akin paid to generate prescriptions were urine collectors who were employed by Bowman’s lab company to collect urine at doctor’s offices for drug screens, and who also marketed Watson Rx prescriptions to patients.

“These crimes cost taxpayer-funded insurance programs millions of dollars and exploited vulnerable patients in north Alabama,” said U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona. “The sentences send a vital message: health care fraud and kickbacks are serious crimes and will not be tolerated. Thank you to our prosecutors and law enforcement partners for their hard work and dedication on this case.”