ɃA££$¥ ฿RIɃ€$: The Norman Seabrook Edition

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team In late 2013, after a few drinks and while relaxing in a hotel room in the Dominican Republic, Norman Seabrook declared that it was about time “Norman Seabrook got paid.”  According to a complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Mr. Seabrook felt he had done his time for over two decades, managing the investments of New...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — June 10, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team U.S. joins whistleblower lawsuit against Valeant's Salix unit -- The government has joined a whistleblower lawsuit accusing the Salix unit of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International of paying illegal kickbacks to doctors to induce them to prescribe its products and submitting false claims for the products to Medicaid and Medicare.  Reuters Whistleblower gets $17M in second-biggest SEC award --  “The information and assistance provided by this...

May 20, 2016

New Jersey announced that a chiropractor from Morris County pleaded guilty to taking more than $250,000 in illegal kickbacks from doctors and other individuals in return for referring patients to their practices, clinics and medical imaging centers. Dr. Alexander Dimeo, 61, of Budd Lake, N.J., and Fort Myers, Fla., pleaded guilty to two separate accusations before Superior Court Judge Michael A. Toto in Middlesex County. Dimeo retired last year, but...

April 29, 2016

Hollister Inc., a manufacturer of disposable health care products, and Byram Healthcare Centers Inc., a supplier of medical products, agreed to respectively pay roughly $11.4 million and $9.4 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act through an illegal kickback scheme.  According to the government, Hollister paid kickbacks to Byram in return for marketing promotions, conversion campaigns and other referrals of patients to Hollister’s ostomy and continence care...

April 18, 2016

Miami physician Henry Lora was sentenced to 108 months in prison for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme that caused approximately $30 million in losses.  Lora was the medical director of Miami-area clinic Merfi Corporation and admitted that in exchange for kickbacks and bribes, he and his co-conspirators wrote prescriptions for home health care and other services for Medicare beneficiaries that were not medically necessary or not provided.  He...

April 13, 2016

Nery Cowan, a former health care clinic consultant and Medicare biller for partial hospitalization program Greater Miami Behavioral Healthcare Center Inc. was sentenced to 135 months in prison and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine for her role in laundering money in connection with a $63 million health care fraud scheme.  As part of her guilty plea, Cowan admitted to directing and authorizing the payment of kickbacks and bribes to...

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- May 4, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Jury makes Johnson & Johnson pay $55 million for baby powder – A St. Louis jury made the award after finding that the company’s talc products caused ovarian cancer; months ago a different jury awarded $72 million for a woman who died of ovarian cancer, and there are over a thousand similar cases pending.  Washington Post Former New York Assembly Speaker hit with 12...

May 3, 2016

Pennsylvania joined with other states and the federal government in a $306 million civil settlement that resolves allegations that Olympus America, Inc. and some of its subsidiaries paid illegal kickbacks to healthcare providers. The settlement was the result of a whistleblower lawsuit – United States et al., ex rel. John Slowik v. Olympus America, Inc., et al – filed in New Jersey. The lawsuit alleged that Olympus used improper financial...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — May 2, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team New Orleans Jury Convicts Company Owner for Directing $3 Million Fraud and Kickback Scheme -- Evidence introduced at trial showed that defendant’s company billed Medicare for durable medical equipment and orthotics that were not needed and/or were not provided; paid patient recruiters for the names and Medicare numbers of Medicare recipients and then used these Medicare numbers to bill Medicare, claiming that it had...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — April 29, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Byram Healthcare and Hollister, Inc. Will Pay $20.9 Million to Settle Kickback Allegations – Hollister Inc., a manufacturer of disposable health care products, and Byram Healthcare Centers Inc., a supplier of medical products, have agreed to pay $11.44 million and $9.37 million, respectively, to resolve allegations regarding  Byram’s receipt of unlawful kickbacks to conduct promotional campaigns referring patients to certain medical products.  Hollister was...