The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced on February 13 that Florida Cardiology, P.A., and a number of physicians will pay the U.S. and Florida $2 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act. The qui tam whistleblowers, Derrick Graham and Jesse Frauenhofer, will receive a $420,000 award as part of the settlement.
The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act enable private citizens to file lawsuits on behalf of the government if they know of an individual or company defrauding the government. Qui tam whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 15 and 30% of the government’s recovery, if one occurs.
According to the press release, the U.S. and the State of Florida “intervened in a whistleblower lawsuit against Florida Cardiology and the physician-defendants on June 27, 2022. The lawsuit and settlement relate to the submission of claims that were improperly billed or performed, and submitted or caused to be submitted by Florida Cardiology, Sandeep Bajaj, Abbas Ali, Karan Reddy, Claudio Manubens, Milan Kothari, Saroj Tampira, Sayed Hussain, Raviprasad Subraya, Harish Patil, and Edwin Martinez.”
For this case, Drs. Bajaj and Reddy allegedly “caused Florida Cardiology to bill for more intravascular stents than were actually inserted into patients.” The press release explains that allegedly, “Dr. Bajaj caused Florida Cardiology to bill for radiofrequency ablations that were not performed by him and in some instances,...
Patricia White, 70, of Old Greenwich, received a nine-month prison sentence for submitting false claims for unclaimed properties to around 30 state treasuries. HARRISBURG, Pa. — Months after her br...