Company informants tempted by the prospect of multimillion dollar payouts are rushing to US regulators with audio recordings and internal documents to take advantage of a new program that can make whistleblowing on wrongdoing lucrative.
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One of the largest insurance brokerage companies in the world, Aon Corporation, has agreed with the DOJ to pay a $1.76 million penalty to settle violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The agreement states that Aon’s UK subsidiary used funds—given for education and training purposes relating to its reinsurance business with Instituto Nacional De Seguros (INS) in Costa Rica—to reimburse INS officials for travel expenses with their spouses or for other unspecified, non-legitimate business purposes.
Read more at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/December/11-crm-1678.html
Alliance Healthcare Services patient recruiter, Ollie Futrell, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge for engaging in a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Her four co-owners also pled guilty last week for their roles in the fraud scheme. The case was the first to be prosecuted by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in Dallas.
Read more at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/December/11-crm-1657.html
Three owners of Spectrum Care in West Houston, a mental health care program, were arrested for defrauding Medicare out of $90 million in fake treatments. According to the indictment, Mansour Sanjar, Cyrus Sajadi, and Chandra Nunn’s scheme involved illegal healthcare kickbacks and fraudulent Medicare billings for treatments that amounted to patients “watching movies, playing bingo or engaging in other activities.”
Read more at: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/3-arrested-in-90-million-Medicare-fraud-scheme-2403896.php
Medtronic will pay $23.5 million to settle DOJ allegations of illegal kickbacks and wrongful use of cardiac implants, but will not admit any misconduct. DOJ civil division Tony West states, “Kickbacks, like those alleged here, distort sound medical judgments with financial incentives paid for by the taxpayers.” Medtronic’s Dr. Marshall Stanton states that Medtronic is happy to have the investigation behind them.
Read more at: http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/12/12/medtronic-to-pay-23-5m-to-settle-kickback-claims/