Top-10 DOJ False Claims Act Recoveries for 2017

Here is our look-back at the Top-10 Department of Justice False Claims Act recoveries for 2017. Click here for a full chronological listing of all the DOJ False Claims Act recoveries.

1. Mylan Inc. — The pharmaceutical company and its subsidiary Mylan Specialty L.P. agreed to pay $465 million to settle charges they violated the False Claims Act by purposely misclassifying EpiPen as a generic drug to avoid paying higher Medicaid rebates.  Whistleblower Insider
2. Shire Pharmaceuticals LLC — The Ireland-based drug maker and certain subsidiaries agreed to pay $350 million to settle charges that Shire and the company it acquired in 2011, Advanced BioHealing, violated the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute by using kickbacks and other unlawful methods to induce clinics and physicians to use or overuse their “Dermagraft” skin product. Whistleblower Insider 
3. Allied Home Mortgage — A judgment of roughly $296 million was awarded against the entities formerly known as Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corporationand Allied Home Mortgage Corporation following a jury verdict that Allied violated the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”) for over a decade of fraudulent misconduct while participating in the Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”) mortgage insurance program.  DOJ (SDNY)
4. Celgene Corp. — The New Jersey-based pharmaceutical manufacturer agreed to pay $280 million to settle charges of violating the False Claims Act by promoting two cancer treatment drugs, Thalomid and Revlimid, for uses not approved by the FDA.  The allegations included the use of false and misleading statements about the drugs, and paying kickbacks to physicians to induce them to prescribe the drugs.  DOJ (CDCA)
5. United Therapeutics Corporation — The Maryland-based pharmaceutical company agreed to pay $210 million to resolve claims it violated the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute by using a foundation as a conduit to cover the copays of Medicare patients taking the company’s pulmonary arterial hypertension drugs.  DOJ
6. eClinicalWorks — The Massachusetts company which is one of the country’s largest vendors of electronic health records software, along with certain of its employees, agreed to pay $155 million to resolve charges the company violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting the capabilities of its software.  The company also allegedly paid kickbacks to certain customers in exchange for promoting its product.  DOJ
7. Agility Public Warehousing Co. KSC — The Kuwaiti-based company agreed to globally resolve criminal, civil, and administrative cases arising from allegations that it overcharged the United States when performing contracts with the Department of Defense to supply food for U.S. troops from 2003 through 2010.  As part of the settlement, Agility agreed to pay $95 million to resolve civil fraud claims, to forgo administrative claims against the United States seeking $249 million in additional payments under its military food contracts, and to plead guilty to a criminal misdemeanor offense for theft of government funds.  DOJ
8. Financial Freedom — The Austin-based company agreed to pay more than $89 million to resolve charges it violated the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) in connection with its participation in a federally insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages or “reverse mortgage” program.  According to the government, Financial Freedom sought to obtain insurance payments for interest from the Federal Housing Administration despite failing to properly disclose the mortgagee was not eligible for such interest payments because it had failed to meet various deadlines relating to appraisal of the property, submission of claims to HUD, and pursuit of foreclosure proceedings.  DOJ
9. Chemed Corporation — The Ohio-based company and various wholly-owned subsidiaries, including Vitas Hospice Services LLC and Vitas Healthcare Corporation, agreed to pay $75 million to resolve charges they violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims for hospice services to Medicare for patients not terminally ill.  DOJ
10. PHH Corp. — The mortgage lender and its subsidiaries PHH Mortgage Corp. and PHH Home Loans agreed to pay roughly $75 million to resolve charges they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA), guaranteed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and purchased by the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) that did not meet applicable requirements.  DOJ

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