Holliston Man Sentenced for Defrauding His Physician

A Holliston man was sentenced on Friday for scamming a Boston-area physician and passing hundreds of forged prescriptions for controlled substances.

James S. Sakkos, 46, was sentenced by United States District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock, to 53 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, and forfeiture of various automobiles and other assets that Sakkos obtained through his fraud.

On July 18, 2012, Sakkos pleaded guilty to six counts of wire fraud, 12 counts of monetary transactions with proceeds of illegal activity, 25 counts of obtaining controlled substances by fraud and of lying to a federal investigator.

Sakkos persuaded a physician, who had previously diagnosed him with a rare blood disorder, to invest in a software company that Sakkos claimed to operate. Between 2003 and 2011, Sakkos fed the physician and the physician’s sister an elaborate story with repeated updates about the purported success of the company in making substantial sales to major U.S. corporations.

To support these fraudulent representations, Sakkos provided his victims with a forged letter from a prominent investment banking firm, expressing interest in a public offering of the software company’s stock. At various times, Sakkos also represented that the software company was on the verge of being bought-out or merged into a well-known national company.

In actuality, the software company was nothing more than a trade-name used by Sakkosto open a bank account into which he funneled the investors’ money. Instead of using the investors’ money for business purposes, Sakkos diverted virtually all of the investors’ funds to his own personal use, including living expenses, the purchase of a second home in Florida and purchases of luxury automobiles, including vehicles by Ferrari, Land Rover, BMW, Audi and Mercedes Benz.

Additionally, on more than 680 occasions between 2007 and 2010, Sakkos used forged prescriptions to obtain controlled substances including Oxycodone, Meperidine/Demerol, Morphine Sulfate and Oxycodone/APAP.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, Kevin L. Lane, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration - New England Field Division, and Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, made the announcement today.

The case was investigated with assistance from the Holliston Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul G. Levenson of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.