The United States Supreme Court is considering hearing an appeal of the dismissal of a False Claims Act case. Noel Nathan was a sales manager employed by Takeda Pharmaceuticals. He claimed his employer was committing Medicare fraud by overprescribing prescription antacids. A federal judge in Virginia dismissed his complaint saying that Nathan did not plead […]
Hospice Owner Convicted In $14 Million Medicare Fraud
The owner of a Pennsylvania hospice care business, Matthew Kolodesh, was convicted of Medicare fraud. Jurors found he billed Medicare for over $14 million in claims for patients that were not eligible to receive Medicare benefits. In many cases, the services were billed but never provided. Prosecutors say that Kolodesh spent $9.6 million of hospice […]
Seattle MD Faces Medicare Fraud Charges
A Seattle physician has been charged with Medicare fraud. Published reports claim Bruce Chen was falsely billing for visiting patients. While that may sound more like an oversight or paperwork error, the government says some of the patients allegedly seen by Chen were dead while at other times he wasn’t even in the United States. […]
Feds Take Ambulance Company Owners For A Ride – Health Care Fraud
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Philadelphia sentenced Aleksandr N. Zagorodny, 40, to 78 months in prison for a health care fraud scheme involving MedEx Ambulance, Inc. He was the former president of the business. His brother, Sergey Zagorodny, 36, was sentenced to 5 years in prison for his involvement in the health care […]
Anatomy of a False Claims Act Lawsuit
Recently we wrote about the record false claims act (whistleblower) award paid to pharmacist T. Mark Jones an his company Ven-A-Care. The sheer size of the awards – $597,000,000.00 is itself newsworthy and an inspiration to whistleblowers everywhere. Every time we write about a false claims act case, we get questions from readers. In this […]
"No Prescription Equals False Claims"
“No prescription equals false claims,” that was part of warning issued by PharMerica’s own auditor after finding that many of the company’s were sending out drugs without a written prescription. Last Friday’s false claims act suit filed by the Justice Department in Milwaukee comes as no surprise. New details show the pharmacy giant was warned […]
No Show Doctor Convicted of Medicare Fraud – Whistleblower Post
New York physician Gustave Drivas was convicted of federal Medicare fraud following a trial in a Brooklyn federal court. He faces 20 years when sentenced later this summer. Medicare fraud costs taxpayers billions each year. Thankfully many of these crimes are solved by whistleblowers. According to court records, Drivas was affiliated with a clinic in […]
Fake Drugs Represent New Whistleblower Opportunity
Fake and gray market pharmaceuticals represent a growing problem in the United States. Medical providers pressed by mounting costs sometimes resort to purchasing drugs manufactured in Turkey, India and other foreign countries. Unless produced in an FDA inspected facility, there is no way to insure those drugs are safe or even contain the prescribed amount […]
The Tie Between Political Corruption and Violations of the False Claims Act
by Brian Mahany The federal false claims act was enacted during the Civil War to help a weak and struggling federal government recoup its losses from a multitude of government contractors who sold rancid rations, faulty gun powder and bad equipment to the Union Army. It’s purpose wasn’t to fight government corruption but in the […]