ST. PAUL, Minn. – A federal civil jury has returned a verdict in favor of the United States for more than $43 million for violations of the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute. During the six-week jury trial before U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright, the United States proved that the Defendants the Cameron-Ehlen Group, Inc., which does business as Precision Lens, and its owner Paul Ehlen paid kickbacks to ophthalmic surgeons to induce their use of Defendants’ products in cataract surgeries reimbursed by Medicare. The jury found that Defendants’ kickbacks caused the submission of 64,575 false claims to the Medicare program between 2006-2015.
As proven at trial, Precision Lens and Ehlen provided kickbacks to physicians in various forms, including travel and entertainment. The United States identified multiple examples of trips, including high-end skiing, fishing, golfing, hunting, sporting, and entertainment vacations, often at exclusive destinations. For many of the trips, Precision Lens and Ehlen transported physicians to luxury vacation destinations on private jets. These included trips to New York City to see a Broadway musical, the College Football National Championship Game in Miami, Florida, and the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia. Precision Lens and Ehlen also sold frequent flyer miles to their physician customers at a significant discount, enabling the physicians to take personal and business trips at well below fair market value.
The United...
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