Top Ten Whistleblower Awards of 2019

2019 was another strong year for whistleblowers, who once again collectively recovered billions of dollars for the government and hundreds of millions of dollars in whistleblower rewards through their filing of lawsuits under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  Whistleblowers this past year also continued to secure financial rewards under the Dodd-Frank SEC Whistleblower and CFTC Whistleblower programs, and under the various state False Claims Act programs....

Question of the Week — Will Healthcare Settlements Continue to Dominate False Claims Act Recoveries?

Recent blockbuster settlements continue past trends: healthcare fraud has so far this year dominated FCA recoveries. During the first half of 2019, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) secured over $750 million in settlements from False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases. And just past the mid-year point, total recoveries have nearly doubled due to a $700 million civil settlement ($1.4 billion total) entered on July 11th with opioid giant Reckitt Benckiser Group. Notable...

Question of the Week — Is DOJ’s Blockbuster $1.4 Billion Opioid Settlement Just the Tip of the Iceberg?

On July 11, DOJ announced a record-breaking $1.4 billion settlement with Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (RB Group) over allegations that its former subsidiary Indivior Inc. inflated prescriptions of its opioid-withdrawal drug Suboxone through numerous unestablished representations about the drug’s safety and addictiveness. The settlement resolves RB Group’s potential civil and criminal liability, but Indivior still faces a criminal trial scheduled to begin on May 11, 2020. It is the largest...

Question of the Week — Should the Medicare Fraud Hotline or HHS OIG Reward Informants?

Opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics agreed to a $225 million settlement related to allegations that it unlawfully marketed its drug Subsys and paid kickbacks to providers through “speaker programs” that rewarded providers who prescribed Subsys. We previously asked whether our readers thought CEOs should be more liable for corporate wrongdoing after the Insys CEO was convicted for participating in a criminal racketeering conspiracy. The proliferation of kickback schemes, evidenced by the...

June 5, 2019

Opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics will pay $225 million to resolve federal criminal and civil claims against it regarding the unlawful marketing of its drug Subsys, including the payment of kickbacks to providers through sham "speaker programs" that rewarded practitioners who increased their Subsys prescribing, as well as jobs for prescribers' relatives and friends, and lavish meals and entertainment.  $195 million of the settlement will be paid to resolve False Claim...

Question of the Week — Should institutions return past donations from Big Pharma executives and their family members implicated in the opioid crisis?

The New York Times recently reported that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has decided to stop accepting gifts from members of the Sackler family linked to Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, one of the drugs at the center of the opioid epidemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans in the past two decades. The Met’s decision follows that of other museums and universities, including the Tate Modern, the...

May 2, 2019

Insys Therapeutics executives were convicted for their part in a racketeering conspiracy where they defrauded Medicare and private insurance carriers. From May 2012 to December 2015, the defendants bribed medical practitioners to prescribe Subsys, an extremely addictive sublingual fentayl spray intended for use by cancer patients. In furtherance of these efforts, the defendants provided kickbacks to practitioners who increased their Subsys prescriptions. The defendants also defrauded health insurance providers who were hesitant...

February 12, 2019

Michael Frey of Ft. Myers, Florida, a physician specializing in pain management, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in an illegal kickback scheme.  Frey was a co-owner of Advanced Pain Management Specialists, P.A., and received kickbacks from A&G Spinal Solutions, LLC (which made checks payable to his wife) for a share of its profits from patient referrals; from a compound pharmacy provider; and as "speaker fees"...

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...

In Their Own Words -- Coyne

“Corporate executives intent on illegally driving up profits need to be aware they are now squarely in the sights of law enforcement.” Phillip Coyne, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, commenting on the Insys opioid scandal. Click here for more.