Whistleblower News From The Inside -- February 23, 2018
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Former employee accuses Tesla of selling defective cars – A recently-filed lawsuit claims Tesla intentionally sold defective cars to customers as “used” or “demo/loaner” vehicles. The plaintiff, Adam Williams, is a former regional manager for Tesla in New Jersey who started working at the company in 2011, and claims he was demoted and fired after reporting the practice to his superiors. The lawsuit alleges that, during Williams’ time with the company, he became aware of “high-dollar, pre-delivery damage repairs” to vehicles that were not revealed to the customers who bought them. Williams claims he told his supervisor and a vice president at the company about the practice in late 2016 or early 2017 and was demoted in early 2017 while the company allegedly continued to hide significant repairs made to vehicles before they were sold. Business Insider
Medical device company must face shareholder lawsuit – A federal appeals court revived a shareholder lawsuit alleging medical device company Trans1 Inc. hid from investors the fact that it was engaged in a fraudulent scheme to obtain reimbursements from government healthcare programs. The ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, came in a lawsuit that was prompted by a federal investigation that resulted in the company paying $6 million as part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in 2013 over alleged violations of the False Claims Act. Reuters
Miami-area man Sentenced to prison for role in $63M health care fraud scheme – A Miami-area man was sentenced to 60 months in prison for his role in a $63 million health care fraud scheme involving a now-defunct community mental health center located in Miami that purported to provide partial hospitalization program services to individuals suffering from mental illness. As part of his guilty plea, the man admitted that from approximately January 2006 through June 2012, he received kickbacks and/or bribes in return for referring Medicare beneficiaries from the Miami-Dade state court system to Greater Miami Behavioral Healthcare Center Inc. to serve as patients. He further admitted that he did so knowing that certain of those individuals were not mentally ill or otherwise did not meet the criteria for PHP treatment. DOJ