The U.S. Government continues to collect federal funds that were not appropriately paid to private companies. Three large pharmaceutical companies still owe the U.S. Government an amount totaling $4.7 billion as a result to False Claims Act allegations.
In 2011, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced some of the largest sums owed to the U.S.
There was a great article in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday, June 14, 2012. David Sell, who covers the pharmaceutical industry for The Inquirer’s Business Department, wrote about the False Claims Act and Acting Assistant Attorney General Stuart F. Delery’s speech at the American Bar Association’s Ninth National Institute on the Civil False Claims Act and Qui Tam Enforcement.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), since its creation in 1934, has always had a program in place to report fraud, however this program has not had any incentive for people to report companies to the SEC until now.
In the summer of 2010, Congress passed a sweeping financial regulatory overhaul as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act,
The US Justice Department announced an agreement has been reached with Orthofix, Inc. to resolve civil and criminal charges brought as a result of a whistleblower action initiated by Jeffrey Bierman, a Midwest healthcare consultant.
Orthofix manufactures and distributes bone growth stimulators under various trade names. Orthofix was charged with having sales representatives fill out Medicare required Certificates of Medical Necessity without the requisite input from the treating physicians,
St. Jude Medical Inc., a medical device company based out of Little Canada, Minnesota, agreed to pay $3.65 million to the federal government to settle False Claims Act allegations that it falsely inflated the price of pacemakers and defibrillators sold to the government.
According to the to the Justice Department,
Hospice Family Care Inc., a hospice company based out of Mesa, Arizona, has agreed to pay $3.7 million to the federal government to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to Medicare. The company and its former owners, Nancy Smith and Nancy Turner, agreed to settle allegations that it sought payments from Medicare for patients who were ineligible or partially ineligible for hospice care and for billing Medicare for a higher level of care than what was medically necessary for certain patients.
Calnet Inc., which provided intelligence analysis, information technology and translation services to the Department of Defense (DoD), agreed to pay $18.1 million to settle a claim that the company inflated its rates on three contracts with the DoD from 2006 to 2010. The contracts were to provide translation services to the federal government at Guantanamo Bay,
Kyle Lagow, a former home appraiser with Countrywide Financial brought suit under the Federal False Claims Act accusing his employer of defrauding the Federal Government by inflating appraisals on government backed loans. Lagow along with four other whistleblowers, initiated suits that were combined and ultimately led to a $25 billion settlement reached between state and federal officials and five lenders including Bank of America.
William Pietragallo, II, founding partner of the law firm of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick and Raspanti, LLP was selected as a Pittsburgh Top 50 Lawyer by Super Lawyers 2012. Marc S. Raspanti, partner in the law firm of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick and Raspanti, LLP, was selected as a Philadelphia Top 100 Lawyer and a Top 100 Lawyer in Pennsylvania by Super Lawyers 2012.
The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania has allowed a False Claims Act suit against Pittsburgh-based Education Management Corp. to proceed. The complaint, which was originally brought by two whistleblowers, alleged that Education Management Corporation had violated the Higher Education Act’s prohibition on paying incentives to college recruiters based on the number of students they are able to recruit to an educational institution.
If you are aware of any person, corporation or entity that you think may be violating the Federal False Claims Act or a State False Claims Act, contact us today.