Celgene has agreed to pay $280 million to settle allegations that the company marketed two of its drugs for off-label uses. According to DOJ: The settlement resolves allegations brought in a “whistleblower” lawsuit that Celgene promoted two cancer drugs – Thalomid and Revlimid – for uses that were not approved by the FDA and not…
Genesis Healthcare to Pay $53.6 Million to Settle FCA Suit
Genesis Healthcare, a company that owns and operates skilled nursing, rehab, and hospice facilities, has agreed to pay $53.6 million to settle allegations that it billed for services that were unnecessary or not provided. According to the DOJ press release: This settlement resolves four sets of allegations. First, the settlement resolves allegations that from April 1,…
Military Food Contractor Pays $95 Million
Agility Public Warehousing Co. KSC has agreed to pay $95 million to settle civil, criminal, and administrative allegations that the company overcharged the military under contracts to provide food to U.S. troops. According to the government, Agility failed to disclose and pass along discounts that it received from its suppliers, thereby charging the military inflated…
Partners Healthcare and Brigham and Women’s Hospital Pay $10M to Settle NIH Fraud Allegations
Partners Healthcare and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (“BWH”) have agreed to pay $10 million to settle allegations related to NIH grant funding for stem cell research. According to the government: [Doctors formerly affiliated with BWH]knew or should have known that their laboratory promulgated and relied upon manipulated and falsified information, including confocal microscope images and…
Walgreens Settles FCA Cases for $9.86M
Walgreens has settled False Claims Act cases initiated by two whistleblowers alleging that the company failed to comply with Medi-Cal requirements for prescription drugs. Under Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, pharmacies are required to confirm that certain drugs were prescribed for approved purposes and that certain criteria are met. Walgreens allegedly failed to review the criteria…
IT Company Pays $45M to Settle GSA Pricing Fraud Allegations
IT company CA Inc. agreed to pay $45 million to settle an FCA case alleging that: CA did not fully and accurately disclose its discounting practices to GSA contracting officers. Specifically, the agreement resolves claims that CA provided false information about the discounts it gave commercial customers for its software licenses and maintenance services at the…
Senator Grassley (R-Iowa) Calling On President Trump to Empower and Protect Whistleblowers
In a letter to President Trump, Sen. Grassley said that whistleblowers can be instrumental in helping to “drain the swamp” in Washington by shedding light on fraud, waste and abuse within the bureaucracy. Grassley referred to whistleblowers as “brave patriotic people who tell the truth about what is going on in our government.”
Six Qui Tam “Whistleblower Suits” Result in Shire Plc Subsidiaries Paying $350 Million for False Claims in Connection With Illegal Kickbacks and Incentives
Shire Pharmaceuticals LLC and other subsidiaries of Shire plc (Shire) will pay $350 million to settle federal and state False Claims Act allegations that Shire and Advanced BioHealing (ABH) — a company it acquired in 2011 — employed kickbacks and other unlawful methods to induce clinics and physicians to use or overuse its product “Dermagraft,” a…
University of Iowa Study Concludes That in the Wake of Whistleblower Allegations Corporations Change Their Behavior to Increase Compliance
A major study concluded that firms that have been the subject of whistleblower complaints “are significantly more likely to experience a decrease in the incidence of accounting irregularities and a decrease in tax aggressiveness, compared with control firms.”
China Makes Example of GlaxoSmithKline in a Case That Involved Bribery of Doctors and Investigators and Ended With Guilty Pleas and Record Penalties
For more than a year, the drug maker brushed aside repeated warnings from a whistle-blower about systemic fraud and corruption in its China operations. The case was fueled by missed clues, poor communication and a willful avoidance of the facts.