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...
Category: Healthcare Fraud
New charges filed against president of medical technology firm alleging conspiracy to pay kickbacks and submit over $70M in false claims for COVID tests
A federal grand jury handed down a superseding indictment against the president of California-based medical technology company Arrayit Corporation, Mark Schena, in connection with the submission of over $70 million in false and fraudulent claims for allergy and COVID-19 testing. Additionally, a criminal information was filed against each of Paul Haje, Arrayit’s...
Massachusetts and Rhode Island men plead guilty in “first of kind” in nation Cares Act Fraud case
David Staveley, a/k/a Kurt Sanborn, , of Andover, MA, admitted he conspired with David Butziger, 53, of Warwick, RI, to file four fraudulent PPP loan applications with a Rhode Island bank, falsely claiming they owned businesses with large monthly payrolls. They did not own the business. Staveley...
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Physician blows whistle on Dignity Health hospital system and neurosurgical group in surgeries by inexperienced medical students
An anesthesiologist and member of the medical staff at Dignity Health, d/b/a St. Joseph’s Hospital, brought a False Claims Act qui tam lawsuit against the hospital and Neurosurgical Associates, LTD,...
Marketing firm Publicis sued by Massachusetts AG for fueling pain meds epidemic and getting docs to prescribe more pain meds
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Health sued a global marketing company Publicis for engaging in unfair and deceptive marketing schemes to help a pain medication maker to market and sell certain pain medications that are addictive painkillers. The work included creating sales training materials and emails and other information distributed to prescribers to...
Federal appeals court affirms $111 million jury award to Government in whistleblower case for kickbacks by blood testing diagnostic laboratories
A federal jury has awarded the Government $111 million against two blood testing labs and their sales consultants were hit with a $111 million for knowing and willful violations of the Antikickback statute and False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. § 3729) (FCA). Blood testing labs Health Diagnostic Laboratory (HDL) and Singulex entered into exclusive...
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SEC lawsuit charges former credit relating agency Morningstar Credit Ratings LLC violated securities laws regarding internal controls
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil action alleging that former credit ratings agency Morningstar Credit Ratings LLC violated disclosure and internal controls provisions of the federal securities laws in rating commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).
Credit ratings are used by market participants to help evaluate credit risk, price certain securities, and guide the...
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DOJ sues Walmart nationwide for dispensing controlled substances to pharmacies through prescription opioid crisis
The Department of Justice has filed a nation-wide lawsuit against Walmart unlawfully dispensed controlled substances from pharmacies it operated across the country and unlawfully distributed controlled substances to those pharmacies throughout the height of the prescription opioid crisis.
The complaint alleges that this unlawful conduct resulted in hundreds of thousands of violations of the Controlled...
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Biogen pays $22 million to settle False Claims Act case for paying kickbakcs
Biogen will pay $22 Million To Resolve Alleged False Claims Act Liability For Paying Kickbacks
Pharmaceutical company Biogen, Inc. (Biogen), based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has agreed to pay $22 million to resolve claims that it violated the False Claims Act by illegally using foundations as a conduit to pay the copays of Medicare patients taking...
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Gilead Sciences Inc. pays $97 million to settle whistleblower case investigated by DOJ for paying kickbacks covering co-pays of Letairis
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Gilead), based in Foster City, California, must pay $97 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act by illegally using a foundation as a conduit to pay the copays of thousands of Medicare patients taking Gilead’s pulmonary arterial hypertension drug,...
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