The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) is pressing a new theory of liability concerning insider trading laws. Specifically, the SEC is requesting that a federal court deem the practice of "shadow trading" illegal under existing law. Shadow trading is a practice in which an individual associated with an entity trades in another...
United States Indicts Spinal Device Company and Two of Its Executives for Paying Kickbacks to Spine Surgeons
On September 7, 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston announced a grand jury indictment of medical device company SpineFrontier, Inc., and two of its executives, Kingsley Chin and Aditya Humad, for violating the anti-kickback statute by allegedly paying surgeons bogus "consulting" fees to induce the surgeons to use SpineFrontier products...
U.S. files suit against Univ of Pittsburgh Med Center and Dept Chair for performing as many as three complex surgeries at the same time
The U.S. Government has filed a lawsuit against the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and James Luketich, M.D. Chair of UPMC's Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. The complaint alleges that Dr. Luketich regularly performs as many as three, complex surgical procedures at the same time, fails to participate in...
Appeals Court Affirms All Convictions of Insys Executives
Today, the First Circuit affirmed all of the convictions of the executives of Insys, the manufacturer of a highly-addictive sublingual fentanyl spray that the FDA had approved only to treat breakthrough cancer pain. Congratulations to Assistant United States Attorneys Nat Yeager and David Lazarus for successfully leading perhaps the most important pharma...
Calif. Attorney General Settles case against Bristol Meyers for $75 Million for claims it underpaid drug rebates it owed to state Medicaid program
California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced a $75 million nationwide settlement with global pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), resolving allegations that BMS underpaid the drug rebates owed to Medi-Cal and other state Medicaid programs. According to a complaint filed by a whistleblower, BMS overcharged the states for its pharmaceuticals by...
Pharmacist arrested for selling COVID vaccination cards online
A licensed pharmacist, Tangtang Zhao of Chicago, was arrested in Chicago on charges relating to his alleged sale of dozens of authentic Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 vaccination cards on eBay.
Court documents say that in March and April 2021,...
D.C. Circuit Upholds Application of Overpayment Rule to UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage Plan
In a precedential opinion that likely have a significant impact on several large pending cases, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today upheld application of the so-called Overpayment Rule, 42 C.F.R. § 422.326, to Medicare Advantage organizations. See UnitedHealthcare Insurance Co. v. Becerra, No. 18-5326 (D.C. Cir. Aug....
Telemedicine company owner charged in indictment for $784 million health care fraud and illegal kickback and tax evasion scheme
A federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey, rendered an indictment today charging a Florida owner of multiple telemedicine companies with orchestrating a health care fraud and illegal kickback scheme that involved the submission of over $784 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. This...
SEC issues $6 Million in new whistleblower awards
The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced awards of nearly $6 million to two whistleblowers who provided information and assistance in separate enforcement proceedings.
In the first order, the SEC awarded more than $3.5 million to a whistleblower who reported valuable new information that...
SEC charges Poloniex LLC $10 million to settle charges of unregistered online asset exchange for digital asset securities
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Poloniex LLC has agreed to pay more than $10 million to settle charges for operating an unregistered online digital asset exchange in connection with its operation of a trading platform that facilitated buying and selling of digital asset securities.
The SEC...
