Whistleblower Rewards

June 24, 2015

Dr. Alon Vanier and nurse Daniel Barbir will receive a very sizeable whistleblower award from the $450 million DaVita Healthcare Partners, Inc. agreed to pay to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act by purposely creating and then billing the government for unnecessary waste in administering the drugs Zemplar and Venofer to dialysis patients.

June 9, 2015

Josh Harman will receive a whistleblower award of nearly $19 million from the $663 million highway guardrail maker Trinity Industries was ordered to pay for violating the False Claims Act by defrauding the Federal Highway Administration by making a critical change to the dimensions of its ET-Plus guardrail in 2005, but failing to tell federal regulators as required by law.  NYT

June 5, 2015

Former DC Public Schools employee Jeffrey Mills will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the $19.4 million paid by Chartwells, a division of Compass Group USA, Inc. and Thompson Hospitality Services LLC to settle charges the company violated the False Claims Act by overcharging DC public schools in connection with its school lunch program contracts.  DC

April 2, 2015

Medical device maker Medtronic plc and affiliated Medtronic companies,Medtronic Inc., Medtronic USA Inc., and Medtronic Sofamor Danek USA Inc., agreed to pay $4.41 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by making false statements to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense regarding the country of origin of certain Medtronic products sold to the US.  Specifically, the government charged Medtronic with selling to the VA and DoD products it certified would be made in the US or other designated countries when in fact they were manufactured in China and Malaysia, which are prohibited countries under the Trade Agreements Act of 1979.  The allegations were first raised in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by three unidentified whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. They will receive a whistleblower award of $749,700.  Whistleblower Insider

March 19, 2015

Dr. Michael Montejo, a radiation oncologist and former employee of Florida Oncology Network P.A, will receive a whistleblower award of $1,082,500 from the $5,412,502 settlement resolving allegations Adventist Health System Sunbelt Healthcare Corporation violated the False Claims Act by providing radiation oncology services to Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries that were not directly supervised by radiation oncologists or similarly qualified persons.  DOJ

March 16, 2015

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that New York along with 49 other states and the District of Columbia have reached a settlement with global pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. to resolves allegations that Daiichi violated the False Claims Act by using lavish meals and speaker programs to improperly induce physicians to prescribe the drugs Azor, Benicar, Tribenzor and Welchol. Under the agreement, Daiichi agreed to pay the US and state Medicaid programs $39 million. The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Daiichi sales representative Kathy Fragoules under the qui tam provisions of the federal and New York State False Claims Acts. She will receive $6.1 million of the federal recovery and an undisclosed portion of the state recoveries. NY