Christopher Paul George, called Chris George (born November 11, 1980 in the United States) is an American drug dealer and convicted felon. Together with his twin brother Jeffrey Frank George (Jeff George) and other parties involved, he ran several pill mills in Florida, which contributed to the opioid epidemic in the USA. George was sentenced to 17.5 years imprisonment in 2012 for these and other crimes. The media called him Pill Mill Kingpin, because he was the owner of the largest network of such clinics in Florida between February 2008 and March 2010.
Origin, family, adolescence
The twin brothers Chris and Jeff grew up as children of John George and his wife Denice Haggerty in Wellington, Florida, an area where the inhabitants are considered to be wealthy. The father had become rich in the construction sector. Their parents divorced in 1988. According to their father, Chris and Jeff were not particularly good students, but they acquired entrepreneurial attitudes in the parental home.
Chris was first arrested at the age of 13. Further conflicts with the police followed due to illegal possession of alcohol, brawls, contraventions, obstruction of justice and theft. In 2003 he was arrested for ordering and accepting a package of anabolic steroids for his own use and for friends. Chris George was sentenced to eight months in prison, six of which he served in work furlough, mainly as an employee of his father's business. After being released from prison, he continued working in his father's construction company. Previously, Chris had studied business administration and construction management without earning a degree, spending two years at Palm Beach Community College and two years at Florida International University.
First sales activities
Before entering the pill mill business, Chris George and his twin brother Jeff ran the South Beach Rejuvenation Clinic, a company that sold anabolic steroids illegally. After telemedical consultations by telephone or e-mail, bodybuilding products were distributed. Jeff George was registered as the owner of this business, which was established around 2006.
Pill mills
South Florida Pain Clinic
After talks with a doctor, Chris George decided at the end of 2007 to enter the pain management business together with his twin brother. He pushed ahead with the corresponding planning and preparations so that the South Florida Pain Clinic could start in February 2008. Its first location was a bungalow on Oakland Park Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale.
Within two weeks, Chris George recognized the opportunities in the pill mill business and began the expansion. He placed job offers for doctors on craiglist.org. A few weeks after the business started, a large number of Kentucky and Tennessee customers visited the South Florida Pain Clinic. The revenues increased significantly, also because of so-called sponsors. They paid a handful of people - often opioid addicts - to come to the South Florida Pain Clinic, receive prescriptions for high-dose painkillers and purchase hundreds of them at the clinic. A relevant part of these pills was given by the patients or buyers to the sponsors, who then sold them on the black market.
Advertising on large billboards, in free newspapers and on the Internet contributed to the business success. Chris George also hired experts to optimize search engine rankings for the South Florida Pain Clinic website. At the same time, he took care of building up a stable network of suppliers, mostly smaller pain drug wholesalers.
Complaints from owners of surrounding businesses led to the publication of a newspaper report about the South Florida Pain Clinic. Subsequently, the police observed the area. The clinic responded to these circumstances and the rapidly growing number of clients by moving to a new location, the Cypress Creek Executive Court, an office complex near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, in summer 2008. At this location the number of personnel was increased. After a few weeks, complaints from residents also increased, so that the South Florida Pain Clinic again was in the focus of journalists and representatives of law enforcement agencies. The landlord terminated the lease.
American Pain
For these reasons, business continued in 2009 on the North Federal Highway in Boca Raton. The move was accompanied by a change of name, the company now was called American Pain. In the official documents Chris George was no longer registered as owner, but a straw man.