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We are attorneys that investigate False Claims Act cases nationwide, including in the states of Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and elsewhere for Medicare fraud, tax fraud, contractor fraud and more against a range of employers including healthcare providers, medical device companies, defense contractors, and pharmaceutical companies. We stand ready to provide a free case evaluation to you; please call us today.

False Claims Act Attorney: Settlement against Ranbaxy

India’s largest generic drug manufacturer has agreed to pay $500 million dollars to the United States and individual states to resolve allegations that Ranbaxy falsified drug data and systematically violated current good manufacturing and laboratory practices resulting in substandard and unapproved prescription drugs. The settlement is the largest of its kind against the generic drug manufacturer under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.

The Relator, Danish Thakur filed a whistle blower lawsuit in 2007 under the False Claims Act detailing Ranbaxy’s violations.  The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland and alleged that Ranbaxy caused false claims for payments to be submitted to government healthcare programs for numerous adulterated drugs.  It is worth remembering that the False Claims Act allows a whistle blower to report a fraud on a government program with the protection of a court-ordered seal and confidentiality and to receive a percentage of the amounts recovered in a successful case.

In this particular case, the United States Government and Department of Justice intervened in the lawsuit, providing additional  support for the allegations that the company violated federal law.  Allegations included inadequate testing to ensure that the drugs were safe, effective, free from cross-contamination and manufactured in compliance with their approved specifications.  Allegations include that the company falsified information about their drugs including back-dating test results and submitting false data where no tests were performed.  The violations are alleged to have adulterated dozens of generic drugs purchased by government healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, as well as generic drugs purchased by the United States under the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.

As a result of the $500 million dollar settlement, the government will obtain approximately $350 million dollars in civil penalties and $150 million dollars in criminal penalties.  Mr. Thakur will receive 21% of the federal and participating Medicaid state civil recoveries.  The company has entered a plea of guilty to six felony counts in criminal information filed by the United States government including introducing into commerce adulterated or mis-branded drugs.

If you have any information concerning a medical device or prescription drug company that is committing fraud against the United States of America or a state, please contact us as soon as possible for a free case evaluation.

THE SCOPE OF FRAUD

Amazingly, some estimates have suggested that approximately 10% of the entire annual United States budget is lost to companies or individuals who are defrauding the government. The United States Federal budget for 2010 was $3.456 billion, meaning around $345.6 million was wrongfully wasted on fraud.

The entities defrauding the government do so in a variety of ways: Medicare or Medicaid fraud whereby they bill the government for services which they never provided or overbill for services that were provided; SEC Trading; Tax Fraud; TARP Fraud; Military/Defense contract fraud; Pharmaceutical Manufacturing;contract fraud involving any number of large government spending programs; or other types public benefit fraud.

HELPING THE PUBLIC.

As a whistleblower attorney, we are interested in speaking with persons willing to make known the truth about company practices and are willing to file a qui tam or whistleblower action. One area in particular we are interested in discussing are lawsuits involving medical device companies where the company is alleged to have overcharged, engaged in kickback programs, and the like. We will nevertheless investigate claims in a variety of areas.

Workers and persons all across the country witness actions at their work that may be unlawful or even corrupt. Unfortunately, some employees and workers feel that they will be fired, terminated, harrassed or punished if they report an unlawful or corrupt action. These reporters, however, are protected by the law as a Whistleblower and can receive compensation because of the False Claims Act or the Medicaid False Claims Act. If you have reported actions that may be fraudulent, then you should talk to a Whistleblower or qui tam lawyer about your facts.

Whistleblowers help the government to get back billions of dollars each year with the help of the False Claims Act. In fact, fraudulent Medicaid claims are also caught by whistleblowers having the Medicaid False Claims Act on their side. If you report a false claim or fraudulent action to the government, then the government will give you, the whistleblower, a part of the money that gets recovered. This is because of qui tam requirements. Qui Tam means that a person files a lawsuit for the king and also for him or herself. The phrase is qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso in hac parte sequitur, or, “he who sues for the king as well for himself.”

These requirements and lawsuits were made popular during the Civil War when many people were getting away with fraudulent actions against the government. In 1986, the False Claims Act was amended to raise the total compensation given to people who reported fraudulent actions, or whistleblowers. If a whistleblower works with a lawyer then it may be possible for them to get three times the amount the government would get in damages and also get additional compensation for general fines.

TYPES OF CASES

The most common situations that could form the basis of a Qui Tam action include:

• Submitting a false or fraudulent record, bill or statement to the government in order to fraudulently obtain money such as reporting a medical service that was never performed for Medicare or Medicad;
• Conspiring with a third party to submit or present have a false or fraudulent claim to the government;
• Withholding property of the government with the intent to defraud or conceal the property from the government;
• Fraudulently buying property of the government from someone not authorized to sell that property; and
• Making a false statement to fraudulently avoid paying money to the government or to avoid delivering property to the government.

FOR HELP, PLEASE CONTACT US.

We help whistleblowers on a contingency basis, meaning there is no fee charged for our work unless there is a recovery. We also front any and all expenses. No matter where you are located — we will represent you. We will come to you, you will not have to come to us.

Attorneys in our firm and attorneys that we work with on Whistleblower, Qui Tam, False Claims Act cases have represented a host of persons making claims, for violations of federal tax law, Medicare law and more.

For more information, please contact our team of whitsleblower and qui tam attorneys today.

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