A jury found that Johnson & Johnson, through its subsidiary Janssen, downplayed and concealed risks associated with its anti-psychotic drug Risperdal in violation of the Arkansas Medicaid Fraud False Claims Act and the Arkansas consumer fraud statute. Risperdal, a drug often prescribed to treat bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and irritability in autism patients, has been associated…
Tenet Healthcare to Pay $42 Million
Tenet Healthcare Corporation has agreed to pay $42.75 million to resolve allegations that the company overbilled Medicare by admitting patients to its inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) who did not qualify for IRF care. IRFs involve a high level of patient care, including intensive rehabilitation therapy and close medical supervision. Tenet disclosed the violation pursuant to…
BP Whistleblower Alleges Oil Rig Design Never Approved by Engineers
A former BP contractor who filed a False Claims Act case against the company in 2009 now alleges that the design of the company’s Atlantis oil rig was never approved by registered engineers, as required under both federal regulations and its lease agreement with the federal government. The whistleblower previously alleged that BP failed to…
WellCare to Pay $137.5 Million
WellCare Health Plans Inc. has agreed to pay $137.5 million to resolve allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act by falsely inflating its spending claims to avoid returning overpayments, retaining overpayments for infant care, misrepresenting patients’ conditions and treatments received, “cherrypicking” healthy patients to lower costs, manipulating performance ratings of its call center,…
Radiation Oncology Practice Pays $3.8 Million for FCA Violations
Radiotherapy Clinics of Georgia LLC and its affiliates have agreed to pay $3.8 million to resolve allegations that the company overbilled for certain prostate cancer treatment services and billed for services which were not medically necessary or approved by a doctor. The allegations were brought to the government’s attention by two separate relators who will…
FCA Allegations Dismissed in BNY Mellon Case
A federal court judge has dismissed several of the allegations against BNY Mellon, a bank that allegedly overcharged pension funds and other institutional clients for foreign currency transactions by promising the best exchange rate for the day, but instead giving clients the worst rate and pocketing the difference. U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup dismissed…
CFTC Files Suit Against Royal Bank of Canada
The Commodities and Future Trading Commission has sued the Royal Bank of Canada, alleging that the bank engaged in a wash trading scheme whereby RBC officials “coordinated with two subsidiaries on the purchase and sale of futures contracts that gave the right to sell stock later at certain prices.” Under the alleged scheme, the bank…
Washington Passes State False Claims Act
Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has signed the Medicaid Fraud False Claims Act. The law, which was passed on March 8, 2012, will take effect on June 7, 2012. Washington State joins 28 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing whistleblowers to bring qui tam lawsuits to recover government money lost to fraud. View…
Universal Health Services and Subsidiaries to Pay $6.85 Million
Universal Health Services and subsidiaries Keystone Education LLC and Youth Services and Keystone Marion LLC have agreed to pay $6.85 million to resolve allegations that the companies provided substandard care and submitted false records in operating the Keystone Marion Youth Center, a residential youth treatment center. The lawsuit was initiated by three former therapists at…
Hawthorn Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Cypress Pharmaceutical Inc. to Pay $2.8 Million
Hawthorn Pharmaceuticals Inc. and parent company Cypress Pharmaceutical Inc. have agreed to pay $2.8 million to resolve allegations that the company sold three skin-treatment drugs which were not approved by the FDA as safe and effective. The company allegedly misrepresented the approval status of the drugs in its quarterly filings with CMS, as well as…