The federal government and attorneys general of forty-nine states reached an agreement on Thursday with five of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Company, Citigroup Inc., and Ally Financial Inc.. The agreement resolves alleged violations of federal and state law including the “robo-signing” of affidavits…
Orthofix: Resolution Near in Three Cases
Orthofix, a medical device company, announced that agreements have been reached or are near in three of the cases filed against it under the False Claims Act and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. According to the company, an agreement in principle has been reached with respect to allegations that subsidiary Blackstone Medical, Inc. paid kickbacks to…
Lab Companies Pay $6 Million for Medicare Fraud
Three Michigan companies have agreed to pay $6 million to settle allegations under the False Claims Act that Accela Medical LLC improperly billed for lab tests performed by Coventry Diagnostics LLC and its wholly owned subsidiary Western Slope Laboratories LLC. According to the complaint, the companies billed Medicare for $900 worth of unnecessary or unrequested…
14 Hospitals to Pay Over $12 Million for FCA Violations
Fourteen hospitals have agreed to pay over $12 million to resolve allegations that they overbilled Medicare for a minimally invasive procedure used to repair spinal fractures called kyphoplasty. Although the procedure can safely be performed in an outpatient setting, the fourteen hospitals settling today and more than twenty five earlier-settling defendants elected to perform the…
L.A. City Attorney Sues Northwest Trust under FCA
The L.A. City Attorney has filed False Claims Act suit against Northern Trust Corporation alleging that the company’s high risk investment practices resulted in a loss of $95 million for the city’s pension funds. In spite of assurances that the pension fund investments were low risk, the suit alleges that Northern Trust invested in consumer…
Forest Pharmaceuticals Faces FCA Suit for Celexa Kickbacks
A recently unsealed complaint alleges that Forest Pharmaceuticals paid the lead research physician of a National Institute of Health (NIH) funded study of anti-depressants to fix the results in favor its drug, Celexa. The whistleblower, a psychologist, co-wrote an article published in 2009 which alleged that the study’s results were biased in favor of Celexa…
TriWest Pays $10 Million for Fraud, Contract Up for Renewal
TriWest Healthcare Alliance, a Pentagon healthcare contractor, paid $10 million as a result of a whistleblower suit alleging that the company failed to pass on its savings to the federal government. According to the complaint, TriWest negotiated lower rates from providers and pocketed the difference. Additionally, TriWest allegedly processed a significant number of claims without…
Ohio Weighing Passage of State FCA
Ohio State Senator Jim Hughes (R-Columbus) has introduced a proposal for an Ohio False Claims Act. While some business groups have objected to what they call an incentive for litigious behavior, others have lauded the potential for the False Claims Act to aid the state in recovering substantial amounts of money lost to fraud. Read…
Obama Taps NY AG Schneiderman to Lead Mortgage Fraud Task Force
President Obama has asked New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to lead a special unit of federal prosecutors and state attorney generals tasked with investigating mortgage lending practices. Mr. Schneiderman will co-chair the unit along with Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. Many, such as New York Public Advocate Bill de…
Cayuga Medical Center Agrees to Pay $3.5 Million for Stark Law Violations
Cayuga Medical Center of Ithaca, New York has agreed to pay $3.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by engaging in improper physician recruiting practices. After the suit was filed, Cayuga Medical Center voluntarily disclosed several other recruiting agreements which violated the Stark Law. The whistleblower, a plastic surgeon who…