A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Ruthia He, founder and CEO of Done Global, and David Brody, the company’s clinical president, in November 2025 for operating a $100 million illegal Adderall distribution scheme. The case represents one of the most significant prosecutions of a digital health company, revealing how the platform systematically prescribed controlled stimulants to patients without proper medical evaluation.
Done required patients to complete only a one-minute assessment before connecting them with prescribers, with initial medical encounters mandated to be under 30 minutes—far shorter than standard psychiatric evaluation protocols. We’ll cover the scale of the illegal distribution, the marketing tactics that drove patient enrollment, the charges brought against the company’s leadership, and what steps patients may need to take if they received Adderall from Done without a proper ADHD diagnosis.
Table of Contents
- How Done Prescribed Adderall Without Proper ADHD Evaluations
- The Marketing Campaign That Drove the Illegal Distribution
- The Scale of the Distribution Network
- Understanding the Criminal Charges and Convictions
- What This Means for Patients Who Received Adderall From Done
- Civil Liability and Potential Patient Remedies
- The Broader Implications for Digital Health and Telehealth Regulation
How Done Prescribed Adderall Without Proper ADHD Evaluations
Done’s core business model was built on speed and accessibility. The platform instructed prescribers to issue Adderall even when patients did not medically qualify for ADHD treatment. In many cases, prescriptions were issued without proper examination—sometimes based solely on brief video or audio communication that lasted minutes rather than the comprehensive evaluation required to diagnose ADHD. A patient might complete Done’s one-minute online assessment, answer questions about attention difficulties without clinical depth, and receive a prescription for a Schedule II controlled substance within days.
The Justice Department’s investigation found that this streamlined approach was not a feature of efficient healthcare delivery, but rather a deliberate business strategy to maximize patient enrollment and prescription volume. Contrast this with standard psychiatric practice: a legitimate ADHD evaluation typically involves a detailed patient history, cognitive testing, interviews with family members or teachers, medical and psychiatric screening, and often multiple appointments spanning weeks or months. Done compressed this into minutes. For example, a patient experiencing ordinary workplace stress or sleep deprivation might receive an Adderall prescription from Done despite these conditions being unrelated to ADHD and potentially making stimulant use dangerous. The platform’s systematic disregard for medical necessity—not occasional lapses by individual prescribers, but institutional instruction—formed the basis of the fraud charges.
The Marketing Campaign That Drove the Illegal Distribution
Over $40 million was spent on deceptive social media advertisements targeting Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. These ads falsely suggested that people had ADHD, creating demand for prescriptions among patients who might not have sought an ADHD diagnosis otherwise. The marketing materials were designed to be relatable and accessible, often depicting everyday challenges like distraction or procrastination as symptoms of ADHD that Done could address. This aggressive marketing strategy coincided with the pandemic period when telehealth adoption surged and many people were isolated at home, potentially more vulnerable to suggestions that their concentration problems reflected an underlying neurological condition.
However, it’s important to understand that not everyone who received an Adderall prescription from Done lacked ADHD. Some patients may have had genuine ADHD that warranted treatment. The illegality wasn’t in treating every patient—it was in the systematic instruction to prescribe without proper evaluation, meaning Done had no reliable way to distinguish between patients with actual ADHD and those without. This distinction matters if you received Adderall from Done: if you received a legitimate diagnosis and benefit from the medication, stopping abruptly could be medically dangerous and should be discussed with a new provider. The problem was the process, not necessarily the outcome for every individual.
The Scale of the Distribution Network
Over 40 million pills of Adderall and other stimulants were distributed illegally through Done’s platform. This scale reveals the operation wasn’t a small-time scheme or the work of a few bad actors—it was an industrial-scale illegal drug distribution operation that happened to operate under the guise of telemedicine. The company generated approximately $100 million in revenue from this activity, demonstrating that it was enormously profitable to cut corners on medical evaluation.
The network extended far beyond the two convicted executives. Hundreds of prescribers, network pharmacies, and support staff were involved in executing the model day after day. Patients across all 50 states could access Done’s services, meaning the impact touched Americans nationwide. If you used Done for an Adderall prescription, you were part of this massive distribution network, and the government’s investigation documented the flow of controlled substances through the system.
Understanding the Criminal Charges and Convictions
Ruthia He and David Brody were convicted on multiple counts: conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, four counts of distribution of controlled substances, and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. These charges reflect that the illegal activity was knowing, deliberate, and sustained over time. The conspiracy convictions indicate that the two executives worked together to make this happen, rather than acting independently or being unaware of what was occurring.
Each executive faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Sentencing was scheduled for February 25, 2026. The severity of the potential penalties reflects how seriously the federal justice system treated the violations—this wasn’t prosecuted as a simple regulatory violation but as criminal drug distribution and healthcare fraud. If you received Adderall from Done, understanding that leadership was convicted of intentionally disregarding medical requirements may factor into decisions about your ongoing treatment and whether you need to inform your current healthcare providers about the circumstances of your prescription.
What This Means for Patients Who Received Adderall From Done
If you received an Adderall prescription from Done, you face several important considerations. First, you should not abruptly stop taking the medication without medical guidance, as stopping stimulants suddenly can cause adverse effects. However, you do need to establish care with a legitimate prescriber who can conduct a proper ADHD evaluation and determine whether continued stimulant therapy is appropriate for you. A significant warning: having received a prescription through Done does not prove you have ADHD. It also doesn’t prove you don’t have ADHD.
What it means is that your diagnosis was not established through the standard evaluation process. You may have a legitimate need for the medication, or you may not. The only way to know is through proper assessment. Some patients may discover they do have ADHD and benefit from continuing treatment under legitimate medical supervision. Others may find that their symptoms were related to other factors—sleep problems, stress, depression, anxiety—that require different treatment approaches. Getting a proper evaluation will clarify which category you fall into.
Civil Liability and Potential Patient Remedies
While the criminal convictions address the executives’ illegal conduct, patients who received inappropriate prescriptions from Done may have grounds for civil claims. The company’s systematic deviation from medical standards and the deceptive marketing that drove enrollment could form the basis for lawsuits by affected patients. Some patients may have experienced adverse health effects from unnecessary stimulant use, including cardiovascular problems, anxiety, sleep disruption, or dependence on the medication.
Civil litigation against Done and its platform operators remains an open question. No large settlement has been announced as of the time of writing, but the criminal convictions establish liability and wrongdoing that could support patient claims in civil court. If you received a prescription from Done and experienced health problems related to inappropriate Adderall use, documenting those effects and consulting with a healthcare provider about causation would be important steps if you’re considering legal action.
The Broader Implications for Digital Health and Telehealth Regulation
The Done case has become a focal point in ongoing debates about how to regulate digital health companies and telehealth prescribing. The case demonstrates that speed and accessibility, while valuable in healthcare, cannot come at the expense of medical evaluation standards. Telehealth can be a legitimate way to expand access to care for patients with genuine conditions, but it requires the same diagnostic rigor as in-person care.
The conviction signals that federal regulators and law enforcement will aggressively prosecute digital health companies that treat controlled substance prescribing as a volume business. Insurance companies, state medical boards, and other healthcare oversight entities have increased scrutiny of telehealth prescribing patterns in the months since the Done conviction. For patients seeking ADHD treatment through telehealth now, this case may result in longer evaluation periods and more thorough assessment—which, while potentially less convenient, reflects a return to appropriate medical standards.