DFine, a California provider of vertebral augmentation devices, agreed to resolve Justice Department allegations of false claims for $2.9 million. The government charged DFine with using customer surveys as vehicles to pay participating physicians kickbacks to induce them to use DFine devices.
A judgment was entered against Medquest Associates for over $11 million in a false claims act lawsuit pending in Tennessee. The judgment included $713,000 in treble damages and nearly $9 million in civil penalties. The case against Medquest was based upon its practice at certain locations of submitting test results by physicians who were neither Medicare-approved nor qualified to certify the testing.
The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 has a little known provision that allows a whistleblower to report instances of bank and financial institution fraud. The law allows private individuals to submit confidential claims to the Department of Justice.
Citigroup agreed to resolve securities fraud charges in relation to its sale of mortgage-backed securities for a whopping payment of $285 million. Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase & Co. settled similar claims with the SEC last year. At the time of sale, those securities produced $126 million in profit for Citigroup’s brokerage subsidiary and $34 million in fees.
Ding-Dong, the SEC is investigating the Avon Lady
Avon Products, Inc., the legendary maker of women’s cosmetics sold door-to-door, announced that the SEC is investigating whether the company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which prohibits companies from bribing foreign public officials.
The SEC recently charged a Denver hedge fund manager with insider trading of Mariner Energy, Inc. The complaint alleges that Mariner Energy board member H. Clayton Peterson gave his son, Drew, confidential information about an upcoming acquisition of Mariner. The complaint alleges that Drew Peterson used the information to purchase Mariner stock for himself and others and passed along the information to friends to use.
The whistleblower responsible for numerous lawsuits against custodial powerhouse BNY Mellon is Grant Wilson, a former currency trader in the bank’s Pittsburgh operation. The lawsuits stem from alleged charges that BNY Mellon provided its clients with least favorable currency rates, which allowed the bank to pocket additional exchange fees. Mr.
An article authored by Douglas K. Rosenblum, Esquire and John A. Schwab, Esquire published in the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Magazine, Fall 2011 edition.
To read the article see: https://www.falseclaimsact.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/fca_article.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana announced on October 19, 2011, that Premier Home Care, a durable medical equipment provider in Southern Indiana, had agreed to pay $600,000 to the United States and to the State of Indiana for violations of the False Claims Act. This qui tam suit was filed in 2008 by a former Premier employee who alleged that the company violated the False Claims Act by falsely certifying its compliance with state licensing requirements when it used unlicensed personnel to set up respiratory ventilation machines for patients.
On October 21, 2011, Bloomberg News reported that Abbott Laboratories, an American pharmaceutical manufacturer, would at least $1.3 billion to settle claims that the company illegally marketed its epilepsy drug, Depakote. This announcement followed one similar from Abbott on October 19, where it disclosed that it recorded a $1.5 billion charge for the third quarter to cover a potential settlement based on government investigations of allegations that it promoted its Depakote anti-seizure drug for unauthorized uses.
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.