Whistleblower Group

July 2, 2015

BP disclosed it has reached agreements in principle with the United States, state, and local governments for a settlement of civil claims arising from the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  The total value of the settlement would top $18.7 billion and be the largest settlement with a single company in American history.  DOJ

July 1, 2015

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Acino Products LLC and its president, Ravi Deshpande, to prevent the distribution of unapproved and misbranded drugs.  Specifically, the injunction involves hydrocortisone acetate suppositories under the brand names Rectacort-HC and GRx HiCort 25 and government charges these suppositories are not approved by the FDA and are misbranded because they do not bear adequate directions for use as required by law.  DOJ

June 30, 2015

VMware Inc. and Carahsoft Technology Corporation agreed to pay $75.5 million to settle charges they violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting their commercial pricing practices and overcharging the government on VMware software products and related services.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Dane Smith, a former vice president of the Americas at VMware Inc., under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  He will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from a portion of the government’s recovery.  Whistleblower Insider

June 30, 2015

Community Health Network agreed to pay $20,324,902.22 to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.  According to the government, since the late 1990s through October 2009, CHN had contracts with free-standing ambulatory surgery centers under which they  would provide out-patient surgical services to CHN patients.  CHN would then bill Medicare and Medicaid for the surgical services through the billing departments of its hospitals so it could improperly receive higher reimbursement rates.  DOJ

June 30, 2015

Sylvia Walter-Eze, the former owner of medical equipment supply company Ezcor Medical Supply, was sentenced to 97 months in prison for her role in a fraud scheme that resulted in $3.5 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal.  She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amounts of $1,866,260 to Medicare and $73,268 to Medi-Cal.  The evidence presented at trial showed that Walter-Eze fraudulently billed more than $3.5 million to Medicare and Medi-Cal for products not medically necessary and paid illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters in exchange for patient referrals.  DOJ

June 29, 2015

John Muir Health agreed to pay $550,000 to resolve allegations it submitted false claims for Medicare reimbursement by failing to have physicians adequately supervise the delivery of radiation therapy services.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former John Muir Health employee under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  She will receive a whistleblower award of $110,000 as her share of the government’s recovery.  DOJ

June 26, 2015

Charlie Chi, the former president and CEO of OtisMed Corporation, was sentenced to two years in prison and to pay a $75,000 fine for intentionally distributing a medical device used in knee replacement surgery after its application for marketing clearance had been rejected by the Food and Drug Administration.  In September 2014, OtisMed, now a subsidiary of Stryker Corporation, was sentenced to a criminal fine of $34.4 million and ordered to pay $5.16 million in criminal forfeiture for this conduct.  In a related civil settlement, OtisMed agreed to pay approximately $41.2 million to resolve its civil liability for submitting false claims to the Medicare, TRICARE, Federal Employees Health Benefits and Medicaid programs.  DOJ

June 26, 2015

Calumite Company LLC, a manufacturer of an additive used in the production of glass, was sentenced in connection with its September 2014 guilty plea to two Clean Air Act false statement violations.  The company was sentenced to pay a $325,000 fine, serve a two year term of probation and implement an environmental compliance plan that includes an annual environmental compliance training program.  DOJ

June 26, 2015

Jim Wang, the former Executive Vice President and President of Global Business Operations for Qualcomm Inc. was sentenced today to 18 months in prison and fined $500,000 for his role in a three-year insider trading scheme.  DOJ

June 25, 2015

Espar Inc. has been sentenced to pay a $14.9 million criminal fine after pleading guilty to participating in a scheme to fix prices for parking heaters used in commercial vehicles. DOJ