By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) -A federal judge ordered CVS Health’s pharmacy benefit manager unit to pay $289.9 million in damages and penalties after it overcharged Medicare for prescription drugs.

In a Tuesday decision, Chief Judge Mitchell Goldberg in Philadelphia federal court tripled to $285 million the damages he had ordered CVS Caremark to pay in June, citing the federal False Claims Act. He added a $4.87 million civil fine.

Goldberg rejected CVS’ request to pay less, saying that while CVS Caremark was liable for only two years of overbilling, evidence at trial “made clear that the fraud was financially motivated, not the result of some innocent or mistaken belief.”

CVS, based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, said on Wednesday it plans to appeal.

Last month, a Manhattan federal jud

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