Two former sales representatives for Amgen have brought suit against the company, alleging it used questionable and illegal sales tactics to help push sales of its psoriasis-treating drug, Enbrel. The suit alleges that Amgen pressured its sales team to 1) obtain physician’s records for patients suffering from psoriasis and 2) encourage insurance companies to reimburse patients for using Enbrel in manners not approved by the FDA. If true, these acts are in violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and punishable by jail time and steep fines.

Some doctors were in on the scheme, too. Amgen representatives allegedly sent letters to insurance companies on behalf of participating doctors seeking pre-prescription approval for Enbrel use on their patients. The doctors, then more willing to prescribe the drug, would benefit from “frequent patient visits to have the drug injected.” If guilty, the punishment could be considerable. The HIPAA doesn’t mess around when it comes to disciplining violators. The sentence for revealing patient’s health information can be as much as 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine “if the information was transferred or used for commercial advantage.”

The two representatives that made the claim are Elena Ferrante of New Jersey and Mark Engelman of California. According to their lawyer, Lydia Cotz, their allegations have been backed up by Amgen sales representatives “from the northeast to Hawaii.” The two representatives say they refused to go along with the scheme and say they were punished for objecting to their superiors. Ferrante was fired in August 2005–the same year that the scheme allegedly began–and Engelman resigned in 2007 after receiving a negative performance evaluation from his boss. They’re now suing Amgen for over $15 million each, an amount that includes “lost pay, punitive damages and other compensation.”