December 4, 2018

In connection with fraud involving two medical devices, Covidien and ev3 Inc. have agreed to pay a total of $31 million to resolve allegations of violating the False Claims Act. According to whistleblower and former employee of Covidien, Jeffrey Faatz, sister company ev3 Inc.’s Onyx Liquid Embolic System was only FDA approved for use within the brain, but was allegedly being marketed to surgeons for use outside the brain. Furthermore, ev3 reportedly incentivized its sales representatives to sell the device for unapproved purposes by setting up sales quotas and bonuses, and did so even as FDA officials expressed safety concerns to the company’s executives. Separately, Covidien was accused of paying kickbacks to hospitals to induce use of its Solitaire mechanical thrombectomy device, causing false claims to be submitted to Medicare and Medicaid. For blowing the whistle on this case, Faatz will receive a relator’s share of $2 million. DOJ; USAO CDCA; USAO SDFL; USAO MA

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Medical Devices and DME, Off-Label and Unapproved Use, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,