To resolve allegations of submitting false claims, Norfolk-based Maersk Line Limited and its Danish affiliate, Maersk Line, agreed to a global settlement of $31.9 million to the federal government. It was alleged that Maersk “knowingly overcharged the Department of Defense to transport thousands of containers from ports to inland delivery destinations in Iraq and Afghanistan,” per an announcement released from the Justice Department.
As the most comprehensive website dedicated to the False Claims Act and related statutes, www.falseclaimsact.com contains a wealth of information on the federal False Claims Act, every state false claims act, the IRS whistleblower law, and the SEC whistleblower law. The site has been updated again and now contains the text of all of the nation’s municipal false claims acts with qui tam provisions.
GE Healthcare, a major, international provider of pharmaceuticals and technology, agreed to pay $30 million to the U.S. to settle allegations that it improperly billed Medicare for its radiopharmaceutical drug Myoview.
Merck & Co, Inc., the second largest drug manufacturer in the nation, agreed to pay $24 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to settle allegations that it knowingly reported inflated drug prices to the Massachusetts Medicaid program.
The Department of Justice announced that Kaman Precision Products, Inc., an Orlando-based defense contractor, will pay $4.75 million to the U.S. to settle allegations that it sold non-conforming fuzes to be used in “bunkerbombs” to the U.S. Army. The settlement arose from a False Claims Act suit filed by the U.S.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it has recovered over $3 billion in settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act in 2011. Of that $3 billion, $2.8 billion was recovered under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. This is the second year in a row that the DOJ has recovered more than $3 billion under the Act and it has now collected more than $8.7 billion under the Act since January 2009.
SEC Chair Mary Schapiro advised Dodd-Frank sponsor, Barney Frank, that the new SEC whistleblower program is yielding results and that no changes should be made to the program without further study of its effects. In a letter to Frank, Schapiro contended that the SEC whistleblower program is providing “significant benefits.
On December 8, 2011, the U.S. Tax Court held that a whistleblower filing under 7623(b) of the IRS whistleblower provisions was entitled to remain anonymous in the case record to protect against retaliation and professional ostracism. In the landmark decision of Whistleblower 14106-10W v. Commissioner, 137 T.C. No. 15 (T.C.
Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries, a charitable organization operating as Diakon Hospice St. John (Diakon), agreed to pay the U.S. $10.56 million to settle allegations that it submitted claims for Medicare reimbursement for ineligible hospice patients from October 1, 2004 to October 1, 2010.
KV Pharmaceutical Company, the St. Louis parent corporation of the now defunct Ethex Corporation, has agreed to pay $17 million to the federal and state governments to resolve allegations that Ethex fraudulently received reimbursement for two of its drugs from federal healthcare programs. According to allegations made by relator Constance Conrad in U.S.
