U.S. Bioservices to resolve kickback claims for $13.4 million

Specialty pharmacy firm US Bioservices Corp has agreed to pay $13.4 million to settle U.S. government claims that it pushed patients to refill prescriptions of Novartis AG's iron overload drug Exjade in exchange for referrals from the Swiss drugmaker.

US Bioservices, a unit of drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen, agreed to pay $10.6 million to the federal government and $2.8 million to states, according to a filing on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court by Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim. read more » 

Minneapolis eye surgery company will pay $12 million in alleged kickbacks case

Minneapolis company settled in a whistleblower case that alleged illegal kickbacks.

A Minneapolis mobile ophthalmic company and its former CEO have agreed to pay $12 million to resolve allegations that it lured physicians with illegal kickbacks in exchange for their business for nearly a decade, the U.S. attorney’s office announced Monday.

The settlement comes after a whistleblower sued Sightpath Medical, Inc., and a Bloomington surgical equipment provider over allegations that Sightpath took prospective clients on luxury skiing vacations and high-end fishing, golfing and hunting trips to persuade them to use its services. read more »

New ski resort operator in New Hampshire raising concern

The new operator of a popular ski resort in New Hampshire faced off against concerned residents, some of whom fear the company's past legal troubles raise doubts about whether it was the right choice to oversee the facility.

New York hedge fund manager Och-Ziff Capital Management assumed ownership of 14 properties held by CNL Lifestyle Properties last year including the lease at Mount Sunapee Resort in New Hampshire. CNL will receive about $830 million in cash and stock under the purchase and sale agreement.+

The company reached a settlement last year with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding bribery allegations in Africa. The company paid a $213 million fine in connection with what the Department of Justice called "a widespread scheme involving the bribery of officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Libya."

New Mexico health care provider settles in fraud case

One of New Mexico's major health care providers has settled a secret court case that stemmed from allegations the company cheated the state's Medicaid program out of $300 million.

Former Lovelace Inc. senior executive Duke Rodriguez claims the company collected state gross receipts taxes from Medicaid for services provided to program recipients, even though Lovelace was exempt from paying gross receipts taxes to the state, meaning it pocketed the tax money from Medicaid.

The Attorney General's Office wrote to Lovelace, its parent company, Ardent Health Services, and former Lovelace parent Cigna. The letters said the companies had fraudulently collected at least $142.6 million in gross receipts taxes from the insurance program for low-income people, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported

Lovelace and Ardent paid the state $2 million and Rodriguez $500,000, as allowed under the whistleblower law.

Court upholds insider trading conviction of money manager

A New York federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of an Ivy League-educated ex-portfolio manager convicted of enabling his firm to make over a quarter-billion dollars through insider trading.

The court noted Wednesday that a doctor who gave confidential drug trial information to Boca Raton, Fla., resident Mathew Martoma received substantial financial benefit in return.

Martoma's lawyers asked the appeals court to reverse his 2014 conviction. Martoma is serving a nine-year prison sentence after his conviction on securities fraud and conspiracy charges in what prosecutors described as the most lucrative insider trading scheme of all time. He's scheduled to be released from a Miami lockup in 2021. read more »