False Claims / Whistleblowers

May 7, 2013
Adventist Health and its Los Angeles-based affiliated hospital White Memorial Medical Center have agreed to pay the United States and the State of California $14.1 million to settle allegations that they violated the Anti-Kickback Act, the Stark Statute, and the False Claims Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced last week. Adventist Health allegedly improperly...
May 1, 2013
The United States filed a second false claims action against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. alleging that they paid kickbacks to doctors to induce them to prescribe Novartis pharmaceutical products that were reimbursed by federal health care programs, the Justice Department announced last week. The government alleges that from January 2001 through November 2011, Novartis...
April 24, 2013
The U.S. government filed its complaint against former cycling champion Lance Armstrong in Washington, D.C., Reuters reported yesterday.  Armstrong, now stripped of his seven Tour de France wins, is accused of defrauding his sponsor, the U.S. Postal Service, by taking millions of dollars in sponsorship money while at the same time engaging in prohibited substance and...
April 22, 2013
On April 16, the owner and another senior executive of Chicago’s Sacred Heart Hospital and four physicians affiliated with the facility were arrested in connection with a Medicare and Medicaid kickback and fraud scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice reported. Edward J. Novak, Sacred Heart’s owner and chief executive officer, and Roy M. Payawal, Sacred Heart’...
April 18, 2013
California-based biotechnology company Amgen, Inc. will pay the United States $24.9 million to settle allegations that Amgen knowingly caused the filing of false claims to the federal government, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. Amgen allegedly gave kickbacks to pharmacy providers Omnicare, Inc., PharMerica Corporation, and Kindred Healthcare, Inc. in return for...
April 11, 2013
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service held a hearing on Wednesday to receive feedback on new rules and proposals for implementing elements of its whistleblower program, Reuters reported.  Some of these proposals include guidelines for whistleblower submissions, criteria for determining the size of whistleblower recoveries, and allowing whistleblowers who die during the...
April 10, 2013
A federal jury found for whistleblowers in reaching a verdict that State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. knowingly provided fraudulent claims to the federal government under the flood insurance program for Hurricane Katrina regarding damage to at least one home, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Tuesday.  In reaching its special verdict, the jury found that State Farm...
April 3, 2013
Fluor Corp. has agreed to pay a $1.1 million settlement to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act when it allegedly used federal money to pay lobbyists, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today. Fluor Hanford operated the Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response (HAMMER) training center for the Department of Energy from 2005 to 2009....
April 1, 2013
A former hospice physician recently secured a $750,000 settlement from the City of San Francisco after he filed complaints alleging that his layoff was the result of retaliation for whistleblower complaints that San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center (“Laguna Honda Hospital”) had misused patient funds and knowingly entered into a...
March 29, 2013
CDW-Government LLC (CDW-G), a wholly owned subsidiary of Illinois company CDW Corporation, has agreed to pay $5.66 million to resolve false claims allegations in connection with a U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) contract, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today. CDW-G allegedly improperly charged government purchasers for shipping, sold products to the U.S....