Boston Heart Executives, Marketers, and Physician to Pay $2M+ to Settle Illegal Kickback Allegations

Posted June 16, 2026

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team

On June 1, the government announced that former Boston Heart Diagnostics Corporation CEO Susan Hertzberg and VP of Sales Matthew Theiler agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that they paid doctors illegal kickbacks for lab referrals in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. One doctor — Frederick Brown — and six marketers agreed to pay an additional $859,055 to settle the laboratory kickback allegations against them.[1]

What Was the Alleged Scheme?

The settlement resolves allegations Hertzberg and Theiler caused false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for lab testing from 2015 to 2017. Hertzberg and Theiler allegedly joined a kickback scheme in which marketers — including Boston Heart employees — paid doctors disguised via management service organization (MSO) distributions to steer lab referrals to Texas hospitals for testing, including unnecessary testing. Despite warnings to stop, Hertzberg allegedly approved and Theiler allegedly carried out an expansion of the arrangement to another hospital with many of the same marketers.[2] In addition to these settlements with Hertzberg and Theiler, Boston Heart previously agreed to pay more than $26 million in 2019 to settle similar allegations.[3]

What Do the Settlements Resolve?

The settlement also resolves allegations that Dr. Brown violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by accepting payments from two purported MSOs in exchange for lab referrals. He agreed to pay $309,055 to resolve claims that, from 2015 to 2017, he received thousands of dollars from Ascend MSO of TX LLC and Indus MG LLC for ordering tests from Little River Healthcare and True Health Diagnostics LLC.[4]

The marketers and their associated entities agreed to pay $550,000 to resolve allegations they also paid kickbacks disguised as MSO payments. These marketers include: Former MSO owner William Todd Hickman; Thomas Gray Hardaway, a former Boston Heart sales representative and co-owner of Texas marketing company LGRB Management Services LLC; and Ginny Jacobs and Scott Jacobs, co-owners of Texas marketing companies S&G Staffing LLC and Jacobs Marketing Inc.

What is the Anti-Kickback Statute?

The Anti-Kickback Statute bans offering or accepting payment for referrals involving federally funded healthcare programs, helping to ensure that medical decisions are based on patients’ best interests, not financial incentives.

Were Whistleblowers Involved in Initiating this Case?

According to an April 2022 DOJ press release, whistleblowers initiated this case under the caption United States ex rel. STF, LLC v. Christopher Grottenthaler, et al.[5] Whistleblowers are often instrumental in sharing important information to help curb misconduct and hold bad actors accountable, such as individuals or companies engage in healthcare fraud or violate the Anti-Kickback Statute for example.

Under the qui tam (or whistleblower provisions) of the False Claims Act, private parties may file lawsuits on behalf of the government and receive up to 30% of the monetary recovery as a reward.

With these settlements, DOJ states it has recovered over $61 million since 2019 in False Claims Act cases involving kickbacks disguised as MSO investment distributions, including from more than 50 physicians.[6]

Comments on the Case

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division commented: “The Department of Justice is committed to rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse in federally funded healthcare programs. Kickback schemes can waste taxpayer dollars, erode healthcare providers’ medical judgment, and result in patients being subjected to unnecessary medical treatments.”[7]

According to Constantine Cannon attorney Ginger Buck: “Fraud in government funded healthcare programs steals from everyone. Enforcement actions such as this case call for accountability and give important resources back to the people who need them most.”

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