Manhattan Doctor Pleads Guilty To The Illegal Distribution Of Oxycodone And Fentanyl Resulting In Patient’s Overdose

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that GORDON FREEDMAN, a doctor who practiced in New York, New York, pled guilty today to one count of distributing oxycodone and fentanyl to a patient for no legitimate medical purpose, which resulted in the overdose of the patient.  FREEDMAN pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Less than two weeks ago, Gordon Freedman was convicted of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from a pharmaceutical company to push medically unneeded fentanyl.  Today, in a separate but hardly unrelated case, he admitted to dispensing massive quantities of oxycodone and fentanyl to a patient who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2017.  It seems clear Gordon Freedman was more concerned with his own wealth than his patients’ health.”   

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment against FREEDMAN and filings in related proceedings:

From in or about 2013 through in or about May 2017, FREEDMAN, who worked at and owned a private pain-management office on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and was an Associate Clinical Professor at a large hospital in Manhattan, prescribed numerous controlled substances to a particular patient (“Patient-1”), including enormous quantities of oxycodone and fentanyl.  For example, in 2013 alone, FREEDMAN prescribed Patient-1 approximately 85,427 oxycodone pills – an average of approximately 234 oxycodone pills per day – containing a total of approximately 2,422,435 mg of oxycodone.

On or about April 13, 2017, FREEDMAN gave Patient-1 prescriptions for approximately 150 doses of a drug containing fentanyl, and for approximately 950 oxycodone pills containing approximately 30 mg of oxycodone per pill.  On or about May 4, 2017, Patient-1 died of a fentanyl overdose after ingesting a quantity of the drug prescribed by FREEDMAN on or about April 13, 2017.

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FREEDMAN, 59, of Mount Kisco, New York, pled guilty to one count of distributing oxycodone and fentanyl, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The maximum potential sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentence for the defendant will be determined by the judge.

FREEDMAN is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Nathan on March 18, 2020.

On December 5, 2019, FREEDMAN was convicted in a separate case, U.S. v. Gordon Freedman et al., 18 Cr. 217 (KMW), of charges of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, and conspiracy to commit honest-services wire fraud.  In connection with that case, FREEDMAN is scheduled to appear for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood on March 19, 2020.

Mr. Berman praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York City Police Department for their investigative efforts and ongoing support and assistance with the case.

The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Noah Solowiejczyk, David Abramowicz, and Katherine Reilly are in charge of the prosecution.