May 29, 2018

Following a two-week jury trial, LaTonya Mallory, Floyd Calhoun Dent III, and Robert Bradford Johnson were collectively found liable for $114 million for violating the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute by paying physicians for patient referrals to two blood-testing laboratories, and for causing those laboratories to bill federal health care programs for medically unnecessary testing. The verdict resolves three separate whistleblower suits filed by Dr. Michael Mayes, Scarlett Lutz, Kayla...

May 24, 2018

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer agreed to pay $23.85 million and enter in to a corporate integrity agreement to resolve claims under the False Claims Act that it induced Medicare patients to use three Pfizer drugs, Sutent, Ilyta, and Tikosyn, by unlawfully covering patients copays in violation of the AKS; in doing so, Pfizer increased its profits and masked the effect of drug price increases. DOJ

May 17, 2018

New Orleans physician Jobie Crear was sentenced to 8 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $810,000 to Medicare for his role in an illegal kickback conspiracy in which he paid recruiters to bring Medicare patients to a nursing and home health services company he operated. USAO EDLA

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- May 30, 2018

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team SEC Succeeds in Blocking Allegedly Fraudulent ICO – “The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced it has obtained a court order halting an ongoing fraud involving an initial coin offering (ICO) that raised as much as $21 million from investors in and outside the U.S. The court also approved an emergency asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver for Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services...

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- May 22, 2018

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Michigan home health agency owner pleads guilty to Medicare fraud -- Atheir Amarrah, the owner of Prompt Care Home Health Services Inc., pleaded guilty for his role in a scheme involving Medicare claims for home health services that were procured through the payment of illegal kickbacks.  DOJ Justices Turn Away Solvay FCA Off-Label Marketing Case -- “The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid...

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- May 21, 2018

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Feeling Used? – Nobody likes that feeling when somebody has used you to get something. It’s bad enough when it’s a significant other, a supposed friend, or a colleague, but imagine if it’s your own government who you helped. That is the case facing George Karadsheh, a whistleblower who helped the U.S. reveal one of the most disgusting, egregious cases of health-care fraud imaginable. Karadsheh...

Michigan Home Health Agency Owner Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud Charges

The owner of a Michigan home health agency pleaded guilty to fraud charges for his role in a scheme involving approximately $8 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for home health services that were procured through the payment of illegal kickbacks. Zahir Shah, 48, of West Bloomfield, Michigan, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to pay and...

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- May 16, 2018

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team DOJ Intervenes in FCA Lawsuit Against Insys Therapeutics – “As stated in the complaint, which was unsealed [yesterday], the United States alleges that Insys, headquartered in Arizona, paid kickbacks to induce physicians and nurse practitioners to prescribe Subsys for their patients. Many of these kickbacks took the form of speaker program payments for speeches to physicians that were, in fact, shams; jobs for the...

Jazz Pharmaceuticals Sets Aside $57M to Settle DOJ Probe

Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc disclosed yesterday it has reached a tentative agreement to pay $57 million to resolve a Justice Department probe over its donations to charities that reduce drug prices for Medicare patients. The company manufactures Xyrem, a costly drug used to treat narcolepsy. Jazz had previously received multiple DOJ subpoenas concerning its charitable donations and announced the agreement in principle in a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange...

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- May 2, 2018

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Ex-Bond Trader’s Jury to Decide Between Fraudster, ‘Guinea Pig’ – “A federal jury will determine whether a former Cantor Fitzgerald LP managing director’s tactics in trading mortgage-backed securities constitute securities fraud. David Demos ‘lied to his customers about important things to steal their money, and when he lied, he knew it was wrong,’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Cherry said Tuesday in Hartford, Connecticut. ‘That is securities...