Whistleblower News From The Inside — May 5, 2015
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
New York Senate leader and son arrested on corruption charges — The 43-page complaint accuses Republican Senator Dean Skelos of taking official actions to benefit a small Arizona environmental company, AbTech Industries, and a large New York developer, Glenwood Management, as long as the companies paid his son. NYT
DaVita to pay $495M to settle Atlanta whistleblower case — The whistleblower action, filed by Dr. Alon J. Vainer and nurse Daniel D. Barbir who both worked for DaVita, alleges DaVita was throwing out good medicine that it then billed to Medicare and Medicaid. Denver Post
California ambulance companies to pay $11.5M to settle whistleblower kickback allegations — The settlements resolve whistleblower allegations that Balboa Ambulance Service, E.R. Ambulance, Care Ambulance Service, Pacific Ambulance and Bowers Companies engaged in kickback schemes by providing deeply discounted ambulance services to hospitals in exchange for exclusive rights to the facilities’ more lucrative Medicare patient referrals. San Diego Times
SEC backlog delays whistleblower awards — “Of the 297 whistleblowers who have applied for awards since 2011, about 247, or roughly 83%, haven’t received a decision from the SEC,” according to the Wall Street Journal. WSJ
FTC halts deceptive marketing of bogus weight-loss products — The FTC alleges California-based diet supplement company Sale Slash “used millions of illegal spam emails, along with false weight-loss claims and fake, unauthorized endorsements from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, to market its unproven diet pills.” FTC
Kentucky optometrist found guilty of violating False Claims Act — A Kentucky jury finds Dr. Phillip Robinson must pay $1,257,225 for seeking payment from the Medicare program for more than 11,000 unnecessary eye examinations he provided to nursing home residents. LEX18.com