Laura Perryman was the CEO of Stimwave, which manufactured and distributed implantable neurostimulation devices. The company was founded in 2010 to offer non-opioid alternatives to chronic pain management. Federal investigators claim Ms. Perryman helped design, manufacture and market a nonfunctional part for a chronic pain device from about 2017 to 2020.
The product, called StimQ PNS System, is a $16,000 neurostimulator medical device that targets peripheral nerves outside the spinal cord. Physicians struggled to comfortably fit the receiver component, called the pink stylet, so Stimwave released a smaller white stylet — a plastic part the company sold to physicians for about $16,000 for each implantation.
“To perpetuate the lie that the White Stylet was functional, [Ms.] Perryman oversaw training that suggested to doctors that the White Stylet was a ‘receiver,’ when in fact it was made entirely of plastic, contained no copper, and therefore had no conductivity,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
After an 11-day trial, Ms. Perryman was convicted of one count of healthcare fraud, which has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.