News & Cases

Various states are readying to collect their portions of a $124 million Federal False Claims Act settlement with Omnicare, Inc. Whistleblower Donald Gale, who brought the initial claim against the nation’s largest nursing home pharmaceuticals provider under the False Claims Act, was awarded 14 percent of the total settlement amount.

Omnicare Pharmacist Gale Filed Federal False Claims Act Whistleblower Lawsuit

Accusations were initially raised in 2010 by qui tam claimant Donald Gale, general manager of an Ohio Omnicare pharmacy. Gale filed a lawsuit on his own behalf and on behalf of the United States using the Federal False Claims Act....

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has awarded an unnamed whistleblower the maximum monetary award (30 percent of the settlement amount) in its first anti-retaliation case. An employee of New York-based hedge fund advisory firm, Paradigm Capital Management, alleged the employer was engaging in illicit transactions and subjected the employee to demotion and harassment as a result of the allegations. An SEC spokesperson reports this award will demonstrate SEC support of whistleblowers and anti-retaliation laws.

Paradigm Capital Management Allegedly Demoted and Harassed SEC Whistleblowing Employee

In 2012, an employee presented information to the SEC alleging Paradigm Capital Management was involved in illicit transactions with a broker-dealer while trading for a hedge-fund client with the intention of reducing investors’ tax liability....

Amedisys home health care companies will pay $150 million to settle claims of seven whistleblower lawsuits for healthcare fraud filed under the False Claims Act in federal courts alleging fraudulent home healthcare billings to Medicare and improper financial relationships with physician groups.

Whistleblowers Included April Brown, Natalie Raven, and Others

Amedisys whistleblowers listed on the seven False Claims Act complaint captions as relators included April Brown, CAF Partners, Umberhandt, Ognen, Lewis, and Natalie Raven. The lawsuits were filed under the False Claims Act terms allowing citizens to file whistleblower suits on behalf of the U.S. and share in any money recovered....

When Jennifer Denk, a Wisconsin pharmacist employee of PharMerica, learned that Schedule II narcotics were being dispensed under her professional license without a valid prescription, she told her managers what was happening. PharMerica, a national provider of pharmaceutical services, management allegedly ignored her. She notified the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in May, 2009. Agents raided the company’s Pewaukee, WI facility and Denk was fired.

Jennifer Buth Whistle Blower Lawsuit Taken Over by Dept. of Justice

In 2009 Denk, now Jennifer Buth, filed a whistle blower lawsuit, which was recently made public or “unsealed”, when the U.S. Department of Justice took over prosecution of the civil case. According to the complaint, PharMerica dispensed the drugs oxycodone and fentanyl in non-emergency circumstances without a physician’s prescription in violation of the Controlled Substances Act and defrauded Medicare when the company collected reimbursements for the drugs illegally dispensed....

Whistleblower John Dickson was rewarded with $7.9 million after filing a qui tam lawsuit that helped the federal government uncover a Japanese ink producer’s antidumping scheme. Toyo Ink and affiliates agreed to pay $45 million to settle allegations that it made false claims regarding its carbazole violet pigment 23 (CVP23) imports to avoid paying customs duties.

Dickson Alleges False Statements on Country of Origin Labeling and Customs Docs

The Japan-based Toyo Ink SC Holdings Co. Ltd. is a global pigment producer with affiliates in New Jersey and Illinois. CVP23 is a pigment required in ink production and has been subject to U.S. Customs duties since 2004 for imports from China and India. Additional antidumping duties (ADs and CVDs) are required on CVP23 with Chinese or Indian origin. For CVP23 produced in any other country, the additional US antidumping duties don’t apply....

Pharmaceutical whistleblower cases don’t always center around off-label marketing and illegal kickbacks anymore. In the largest individual whistleblower award case to date, former SmithKline quality assurance manager, Cheryl Eckard, won a record $96 million for reporting ’s FDA current good manufacturing practices (CGMP) violations, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
SB Pharmco Puerto Rico Inc., a subsidiary, pleaded guilty to manufacturing and distributing...