April 2, 2015
Medical device maker
Medtronic plc and affiliated Medtronic companies,
Medtronic Inc.,
Medtronic USA Inc., and
Medtronic Sofamor Danek USA Inc., agreed to pay $4.41 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by making false statements to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense regarding the country of origin of certain Medtronic products sold to the US. Specifically, the government charged Medtronic with selling to the VA and DoD products it certified would be made in the US or other designated countries when in fact they were manufactured in China and Malaysia, which are prohibited countries under the Trade Agreements Act of 1979. The allegations were first raised in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by three unidentified whistleblowers under the
qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. They will receive a
whistleblower award of $749,700.
Whistleblower Insider