On January 18, 2011, United States Attorney B. Todd Jones announced the creation of the Civil Frauds Unit in his office’s Civil Division. The new unit will focus on fraud in the areas of finance, health care, mortgages, banks, and federal grants, and will work hand-in-hand with the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in handling fraud cases and freezing assets before indictments are filed.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a new program targeting health care fraud called the FDA Pharmaceutical Fraud Pilot Program (PFPP). PFPP was initiated in 2010 and has successfully recovered taxpayer money. Approximately $2.5 billion was attributed to violations of the False Claims Act.
Cephalon was recently given a rebuke by the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry (“ABPI”) for providing “inappropriate hospitality” to thirteen healthcare professionals during a convention in Lisbon, Portugal in 2009. The ABPI reacted to an anonymous complaint filed by a perturbed Cephalon employee, who witnessed the company’s largesse in marketing its fentanyl products.
Last week, pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline announced that it would take a $3.4 billion charge to cover the legal fallout from investigations into its controversial Avandia diabetes pill. In total, Glaxo has taken over $6 billion in charges to cover ongoing legal problems related to Avandia, which was banned in Europe last fall.
Last week, ESPN reported, based on documents uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request, that Tailwind Sports, a San Francisco-based sports management company, was paid nearly $32 million between 2001 and 2004 to run Lance Armstrong’s United States Postal Service (“USPS”) cycling team.
On January 18, 2011, the Young Adult Institute (“YAI”) and five of its current and former officers were ordered to pay $18 million in civil damages to settle a lawsuit brought under the False Claims Act. YAI is the largest operator of residential facilities and other programs for developmentally disabled individuals in New York State.
During the fiscal year 2010, the US government was able to recover more than $4 Billion stolen from federal health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
N.I. Teijin Shoji Co. Ltd., a fiber importer, agreed to a $1.5 million settlement for False Claims Act allegations. The company imported the fiber, Zylon, which was manufactured by Toyobo Co. Ltd. of Japan. It is alleged that Teijin Shoji was aware that the Zylon degraded quickly over time causing it to be unfit for use in the production of bullet proof vests.
Seven hospitals in Florida, Mississippi, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina and Alabama have agreed to pay the United States a total of more than $6.3 million to settle allegations under the False Claims Act. Between 2000 and 2008 these hospitals performed kyphoplasty, a minimally invasive treatment for certain spinal fractures that is often performed on an outpatient basis.
On Thursday, February 17, 2011, the Allegheny Bar Association’s Federal Court section will be presenting QUI TAM LITIGATION IN THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA: OPEN FOR BUSINESS.
