Whistleblower News From The Inside -- May 4, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

Jury makes Johnson & Johnson pay $55 million for baby powder – A St. Louis jury made the award after finding that the company’s talc products caused ovarian cancer; months ago a different jury awarded $72 million for a woman who died of ovarian cancer, and there are over a thousand similar cases pending.  Washington Post

Former New York Assembly Speaker hit with 12 years – Sheldon Silver was handed the prison term for taking $4 million in bribes and kickbacks and another $1 million from money laundering.  New York Times

Government joins whistleblower case against Narco Freedom – The DOJ joined a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging that the operator of outpatient drug rehab clinics, as well as former executives and business associates, engaged in a kickback scheme to defraud Medicaid of tens of millions of dollars.  USAO – SDNY

New York City agrees to pay $4.3 million over fraud allegations – The payment settles charges that the city’s fire department received improper Medicare reimbursements for ambulatory services in violation of the False Claims Act.  Reuters

Air transporters settle False Claims Act case for $13 million – Menlo Worldwide Government Services and Estes Forwarding Worldwide agreed to the payment to resolve whistleblower allegations that they charged the government for air shipments that were actually transported on the ground.  Sacramento Bee