U.S. District Court judge Terrence Boyle rejected a proposed settlement and deferred prosecution agreement by WakeMed Health and Hospitals, a North Carolina health system criminally charged with ripping off Medicare for at least $1.2 million. The first hospital or health system to be criminally charged with defrauding Medicare, WakeMed Health and Hospitals allegedly made false statements to Medicare in order to be reimbursed for costly inpatient stays of Medicare patients who never actually were inpatients at the hospital.
The Floyd Landis vs. Lance Armstrong FCA complaint is unsealed.
To view the complaint, please see:
http://www.pietragallo.com/library/files/landis-armstrong-usps-complaint_(2).
Michael A. Morse, chair of the national qui tam pracitce group at Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP, was quoted in an article in today’s LA Times discussing the federal whistleblower lawsuit accusing Lance Armstrong of defrauding the U.S. Postal Service. The suit is filed by former teammate, Floyd Landis.
Chair of Pietragallo’s national qui tam practice group, Michael A. Morse, was quoted in an article in today’s New York Daily News discussing how the legal fate of Lance Armstrong is in the hands of the Department of Justice.
To view the article, please see:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/lance-legal-fate-rests-ag-holder-hands-article-1.
A January 13, 2013 Wall Street Journal article detailed a recent development in the federal whistleblower lawsuit aimed at recouping $30.6 million in U.S. Postal Service sponsorship money paid to professional cyclist Lance Armstrong’s team from 2001 to 2004. The U.S.
On January 4, 2013, the Attorney General for Texas, Greg Abbott, announced that Pfizer, Inc. and Endo Pharmaceuticals will pay $36 million to settle a whistleblower suit filed under Texas’ Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act. The settlement resolves allegations that the companies defrauded Medicaid by misreporting the price of generic drugs for the Medicaid program.
On January 10, 2013, a pharmaceutical company based in San Diego, Victory Pharma, Inc., agreed to pay $11.4 Million to resolve allegations that it improperly marketed its pharmaceutical products. It is alleged that Victory violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to doctors who prescribe the company’s drugs.
On January 7, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement resolving False Claims Act allegations against EMH Regional Medical Center (“EMH”) and North Ohio Art Center, Inc. (“NOHC”). It was alleged that EMH and NOHC performed unnecessary stent procedures on patients between 2001 and 2006, including those reimbursed by Medicare.
Illinois-based hardware distributor, W.W. Grainger Inc., has agreed to pay $70 million to the United States to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims under contracts with the General Services Administration and the U.S. Postal Service.
For more information, please see:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/December/12-civ-1545.
British Iraq Contractor, APTx Vehicle Systems, agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations that it defrauded the U.S. by making false claims in a contract for the procurement of 51 vehicles for the Iraqi Police Authority.
