Fresenius to pay $5.2M settlement for allegedly overbilling Medicare

The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc., d/b/a Fresenius Medical Care North America, Inc., the largest operator of kidney dialysis clinics in the United States, has agreed to pay $5.2 million to resolve allegations that the company tested dialysis patients for Hepatitis B surface antigen more frequently than medically necessary and then billed Medicare for the unnecessary tests.

A former employee of Fresenius, Christopher Drennen, brought these allegations through a whistleblower lawsuit. Under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, private individuals, known as relators, can sue on behalf of the government for false claims and share in any recovery. In connection with today’s announced settlement, Mr. Drennen will receive 27.5% of the recovery. read more »

Deutsche Bank trader  ‘I’m being jailed for four emails from 12 years ago’

Matt Connolly wrote three emails making requests about Libor, the most recent of which dates from August 2007. He was copied in on another. At the New York court, it was enough to condemn him to jail.

On the one hand, prosecutors were unable to prove at the trial that Connolly and Black procured false statements that caused identifiable losses for others, nor to produce as a witness a victim of their actions. On the other, prosecutors did not need to show a fraud succeeded. For a charge of conspiracy, they needed only to convince the jury one was planned.

"To convict them on the charges, you need to do nothing more than accept at face value the statements they made in which the defendants and their co-conspirators requested and submitted rates… to benefit trading positions," DoJ prosecutor Carol Sipperly told the jury. read more »

FAA-ordered inspection finds cracks in wing supports of 36 Boeing 737s, another setback for aerospace giant

A mass inspection of older Boeing 737 NGs worldwide has found 36 with cracked wing supports, resulting in their grounding pending repairs, the aerospace giant said Wednesday.

That represented about 5% of the 686 planes inspected for cracks following an order issued last week by the Federal Aviation Administration. read more »