Multiple Whistleblowers and First-to-File

Centric Parts - Customs Fraud ($8 million)

Constantine Cannon represented a whistleblower in a False Claims Act case alleging auto parts distributor Centric Parts misclassified brake pads imported from Asia to avoid millions of dollars of customs duties.  In July 2020, the company agreed to pay $8 million to settle the matter.  Our client (along with a second whistleblower) received a whistleblower award of 18.5% of the government's recovery.  Read more -- DOJ, CC.

July 24, 2020

Several divisions of pharmaceutical company Indivior, which marketed of the opioid-addiction drug Suboxone, pleaded guilty to felony healthcare fraud, entered into a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement, and will pay a total of $600 million in criminal fines, restitution, civil damages, and penalties.  In six separate cases brought by whistleblowers, Indivior was also alleged to have caused false claims to be submitted to government healthcare programs including by promoting the sale of Suboxone to physicians who were prescribing it outside of medically accepted indication, misrepresenting the likelihood of Suboxone being diverted, and taking steps to delay generic competition for Suboxone. Indivior admitted making false statements about the safety of the film version of Suboxone in order to promote its sale.  In addition, the FTC claimed that violated antitrust laws through a deceptive scheme to thwart lower priced generic competition with Suboxone.  The total settlement consists of criminal restitution of $289 million; a civil settlement of $300 million, with $209.3 million paid to resolve claims by the federal government and $90.7 million to participating states; and, $10 million in penalties to the Federal Trade Commission.  The settlement also requires Indivior to take steps including the dissolution of its Suboxone sales force. Indivior was until 2014 a subsidiary of Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, which previously paid $1.4 billion to resolve claims related to Suboxone marketing.  DOJ; USAO NJ; FTC

July 11, 2019

Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, which marketed and sold the opioid addiction treatment drug Suboxone until 2014 through its then-subsidiary Indivior Inc., will pay a total of $1.4 billion in a global settlement resolving criminal, civil, and administrative claims.  In marketing Suboxone Film, Indivior allegedly made unsupported claims that the drug was less-divertable and less-abusable than other buprenorphine drugs, and steered patients to doctors known to have a history of over-prescribing Suboxone and other opioids.  In addition, Indivior was alleged to have discontinued its tablet Suboxone for pretextual reasons, claiming a concern for pediatric exposure when, in fact, the company was seeking to delay FDA approval of a generic form of tablet Suboxone.  In a non-prosecution agreement, RB Group will forfeit $647 million in proceeds it received from Indivior, will cooperate with ongoing investigations, and will not manufacture or market controlled substances in the U.S. for three years.  In resolution of civil claims with the U.S. and states, including six lawsuits filed by whistleblowers under the False Claims Act, RB Group will pay $700 million to resolve claims that the marketing of Suboxone caused false claims to be submitted to federal- and state-funded government healthcare programs.  Finally, RB Group has agreed to pay $50 million in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission to resolve claims that it engaged in unfair competition in seeking to impede generic equivalents of Suboxone.  DOJ; USAO W.D.Va.; FTC; VA; NY; PA

March 11, 2019

Medical device manufacturer Covidien LP will pay $20 million to resolve False Claims Act cases initiated by three whistleblowers alleging that Covidien violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by providing remuneration to healthcare providers in California and Florida.  Covidien markets radiofrequency ablation catheters to providers including vein surgery practices for use in procedures for the treatment of varicose veins and underlying conditions, and allegedly provided its customers with substantial assistance in connection with marketing vein screening and related services in order to increase demand for such services and therefore induce purchases of Covidien's vein ablation products.  Covidien will pay $17.5 million to the United States; $1.5 million to California; and $1 million to Florida.  Two whistleblowers who were sales managers for Covidien, Erin Hayes and Richard Ponder, will share a $3.1 million whistleblower reward.  The settlement also resolves claims by whistleblower Shawnea Howerton, a former employee of one of Covidien's customers.  DOJ; USAO NDCal; FL

October 1, 2018

Pharmaceutical distributor AmerisourceBergen Corporation will pay $625 million to the federal government and 43 states to settle claims that between 2001 and 2014 a pre-filled syringe program at one of its subsidiaries, Medical Initiatives, Inc., violated federal law.  Despite lacking the proper licensing and registration, MII opened FDA-approved sterile vials of oncology drugs, and in a non-sterile environment, pooled the medicine and transfered it into non-FDA approved pre-filled syringes which were then sold to oncology practices and physicians.  This practice allowed Amerisource to capture the "overfill" in the original FDA-approved sterile vials and produce a larger number of pre-filled syringes.  AmerisourceBergen also resolved claims that it provided unlawful kickbacks to physicians to induce them to purchase pre-filled syringes rather than vials.  The settlement resolved three qui tam actions initiated by whistleblowers Michael Mullen, Daniel Sypula, Kelly Hodge, and Omni Healthcare, Inc.; a payment of over $93 million will be made to relators. Previously, in September, 2017, AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group pleaded guilty to illegally distributing misbranded drugs and agreed to pay $260 million in criminal fines and forfeitures. USAO E.D.N.Y.;  NY