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September 2008
Taxpayers Against Fraud Honored Whistleblower Attorneys Steve Cohen and BethAnne Yeager as “Lawyers of the Year”
On September 18, 2008, Steve Cohen and BethAnne Yeager were honored by Taxpayers Against Fraud (“TAF”) with their “Lawyer of the Year” award at TAF’s Annual Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C. Attorneys Cohen and Yeager received the award in recognition of their work as relator’s counsel in U.S. ex rel. H. Dean Steinke v. Merck. TAF recognized Cohen and Yeager’s skill and dedication in shepherding the litigation to a $400 million settlement. The case involved massive violations of Medicaid best price and marketing violations for the drugs Vioxx and Zocor.
TAF is a nonprofit, public interest organization dedicated to combating fraud against the Federal Government through the promotion and use of the Federal False Claims Act and its qui tam provisions.
Read more about the case at www.drugfraudsettlement.com
Read Press Release of the award at www.taf.org/pressrelease.htm
March 2008
CVS, America’s Largest Pharmacy Chain, Pays $37 Million to Settle Federal and State Generic Drug Switching Charges
CVS Caremark Corporation has paid nearly $37 million to settle the nation’s first retail pharmacy drug switching case. The case was brought by a pharmacist whistleblower represented by Behn & Wyetzner, Chartered.
CVS allegedly charged the government up to 400 percent more for Medicaid patients by illegally changing generic Zantac® prescriptions from tablets to higher priced capsules, according to a multi-state complaint. The federal Complaint and Settlement Agreement stated that CVS garnered huge profits by evading federal and state price ceilings when it unlawfully switched dosage forms. Twenty-four states also entered separate settlements with the company.
Read Press Release Visit http://www.pharmacyfraudsettlement.com to learn more about the investigation.
February 2008
Merck Pays $400 Million In National Medicaid Fraud Settlement;
The Second Largest Medicaid drug fraud civil settlement in the history the False Claims Act.
When the whistleblower was unable to get management to stop its improper drug marketing tactics, he brought evidence to a team of experienced qui tam whistleblower attorneys, Steven Cohen, BethAnne Yeager and Mark Kleiman. They took his case under seal to federal and state Governments.
After seven years of investigation and litigation, it was settled today, returning more than $400 million to federal and state taxpayers.
Read Press Release Visit http://www.drugfraudsettlement.com to learn more about the investigation.
June 2007
American Lawyer Magazine Recognizes Michael Behn's Role in $334 Million Amerigroup Case
The "largest ever False Claims Act judgment" of $334 million was awarded by a Chicago jury last year in a case against defendant Amerigroup for denying Medicaid coverage to pregnant women and others in need of medical care. The case was brought by former Amerigroup executive Cleveland Tyson. As the magazine told it:
"The case began in 2002, when Cleveland Tyson, a former Amerigroup Illinois, Inc., vice president, filed suit in federal court in Chicago claiming the company violated state and federal laws. Tyson alleged that from 1999 on, Amerigroup, which provides HMO care to individuals on Medicaid, intentionally avoided marketing services to eligible pregnant women and others with serious health problems.
Initially, the state and federal government-each of which contributes to the Medicaid program-declined to intervene. But during discovery, Tyson's legal team uncovered e-mail exchanges between Amerigroup executives and staff discussing its policy of not marketing its service to pregnant women. Based on the new evidence, the Illinois attorney general's office intervened in March 2005; the U.S. attorney's office soon stepped in."
The American Lawyer recognized Whistleblower Action lawyer Michael Behn of Behn & Wyetzner for his key role as one of Tyson's lawyers.
Read the American Lawyer article
November 2006
Behn & Wyetzner announce drug switching settlement of $49.5 million
Omnicare, Inc., which calls itself “the nation's leading provider of pharmaceutical care for seniors,” paid $49.5 million to settle charges that it illegally switched the drugs of senior citizens in nursing homes and other facilities. The charges primarily involved the generic forms of the popular drugs Zantac® and Prozac®.
Omnicare was charged with switching dosage forms – which are different drugs -- to garner huge profits by evading federal and state price limits. Ranitidine, the generic form of Zantac®, typically came in tablets. Given its popularity, the government set maximum prices that Medicaid would pay for the tablets. Ranitidine capsules were infrequently prescribed, and had no maximum prices. Allegedly, Omnicare switched patients’ prescriptions for ranitidine tablets to the expensive capsules -- costing taxpayers up to four times as much. For Prozac®, Omnicare allegedly switched prescribed capsules to tablets.
This case was pursued for over five years by Illinois pharmacist Bernard Lisitza and his Chicago attorney Michael I. Behn, under federal and state False Claims Acts. “Bernie’s your old-fashioned corner pharmacist, who was shocked by a profits over patients approach,” said Behn. “This was the first case targeting generic drug switching under the False Claims Act, to help protect both patients and taxpayers,” Behn added. “The switching covered by this settlement affected the most vulnerable segment of our population – the elderly, the sick and the poor. Doctors should be selecting their medications, not a Fortune 500 company.”
Read the Wall Street Journal article
Read the Bloomberg.com article
Read the New York Times article
April 2006
Steve Cohen is highlighted in an in-depth article about an emerging area of anti-fraud enforcement involving the federal E-rate program. The E-rate fund was established in the early 1990's as a U.S. government loan program to help the nation's school districts meet their growing internet and telecommunications technology needs.
The E-rate program has fallen prey to huge fraud and abuse over the years by private entities who sell equipment and services to the school districts and get paid by the E-rate program. Whistleblowers have been instrumental in bringing these fraudulent practices to light and triggering government investigations under the federal False Claims Act.
Watch for E-rate fraud to become an increasing focus of anti-fraud enforcement activity by the federal government.
Whistleblower Action Attorney Quoted in Human Resources Journal
A 2006 Spherion Corporation survey found that although 34% of respondents had observed unethical activities at their workplaces, only 47% of those respondents were likely report such misconduct. According to attorney Michael Behn, the second number is "not surprising" given societal impressions of "tattletales." As Behn explained, "[t]he consequences of whistleblowing are really only positively addressed by the Federal and State False Claims Acts, which provide real teeth ... in terms of compensating individuals for the extreme risks they take with their livelihoods and their lives by coming forward .. as well as providing real protection against retaliation."
Read "The Tangled Web of E-rate"
Read "E-rate Rip-Offs"
Read Learn more about the federal e-rate program
Read Read ‘Workers Hesitant to ‘Blow the Whistle’
November 2005
State of Illinois Joins Major Medicaid Fraud Qui Tam Case Against University of Chicago Hospitals
On November 1, 2005, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan formally joined a major Medicaid fraud qui tam case Whistleblower Action Network Attorney Steve Cohen brought against the University Chicago Hospitals on behalf of two nurses. The original qui tam case alleged that for at least ten years, the University of Chicago Hospital neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) had been "double-bunking" babies needing intensive care. The whistleblowers allege that double-bunking, the practice of putting two babies in a bed space designed for only one baby, caused overcrowded and unsafe conditions in and resulted in serious infection outbreaks in the NICU. After a two year investigation of the charges raised in the whistleblowers complaint, the State of Illinois announced it would prosecute the University of Chicago Hospitals for false claims and Medicaid fraud stemming from its double-bunking practices.
Read the Qui Tam complaint
Read the State of Illinois complaint in intervention
November 2005
Whistleblower Action Attorney featured in Chicago lawyer Magazine
Steve Cohen is one of the lawyers featured in an article about Chicago lawyers specializing in the representation of whistleblower clients in false claims act litigation. The article, published in the November issue of Chicago Lawyer, highlights Steve's prominence in this important new area of law.
Read the Chicago Lawyer article
October 2005
Whistleblower Action Attorney Michael Behn Achieved State's Largest Settlement of the Year By a $100 Million Margin
In the Chicago Lawyer 2005 Settlement Survey, the $134 million settlement of U.S. ex rel. Robinson v. Northrop Grumman Corp. came out on top. Not only was the settlement the largest false-claims settlement ever negotiated in the Northern District of Illinois, the Northrop settlement was $100 million more than any other settlement in the 2005 Survey.
Read the Chicago Lawyer article
October 2005
Whistleblower Action Attorney Michael Behn Honored as "Lawyer of the Year" by National Taxpayer Group
On October 27, 2005, Michael Behn was honored by Taxpayers Against Fraud with their Attorney of the Year Award at the organization's Annual Awards Dinner in Washington D.C. Mr. Behn received the award in recognition of his work as relators' counsel in U.S. ex rel. Robinson v. Northrop Grumman Corp. Taxpayers Against Fraud recognized Mr. Behn's "tenacity, management skills, and dedication" in his perseverance in keeping the case alive after the Government initially declined to intervene in 1992 and his success in convincing the Government to revisit the case and intervene nearly ten years later.
Read the TAF.org article
August 2005
Whistleblower Action Network attorney, Steven Cohen, authors article about the new Chicago Whistleblower law.
In the Summer Edition of the Taxpayers Against Fraud (TAF) Quarterly Review, Steve Cohen writes about the recently passed Chicago False Claims Act law.
In November, 2004 Chicago passed the Chicago False Claims Act, becoming the first major city to pass a whistleblower qui tam law. In "The Perfect Storm: How Patience, Perserverance, and Politics Led to the Passage of the Chicago False Claims Act", Steve Cohen chronicles the passage of the Chicago Ordinance and provides readers with a primer on the new ordinance.
TAF is a nonprofit, public interest organization dedicated to combating fraud against the Federal Government through the promotion and use of the Federal False Claims Act and its qui tam provisions.
Read Steve Cohen’s Article
TAF Website
July 2005
$700,000 Additional Recovery in Medicare/Medicaid Billing Fraud Qui Tam Case Brought By Steve Cohen
On May 24, 2005 the federal government, the State of Illinois and the State of Maine announced a second settlement in a qui tam action brought by Steve Cohen in 1996, raising the total recovery so far to over $2.1 million dollars.
In 1996, Steve Cohen filed the qui tam lawsuit on behalf of a former billing coordinator alleging defendants Dr. Tetik and his ex-wife Bonnie Tetik, co-founder and owners of EMSCO, instructed employees to over-bill for physician service at Chicago area hospital emergency rooms. In addition to the individual defendants, the qui tam suit named NES, Inc., a national company that acquired EMSCO in 2002, as a defendant in the action.
In June, 2004 NES settled with the federal government, the State of Illinos and the State of Maine for more than $1.4 millions dollars plus attorneys fees. Dr. Tetik has now reached a settlement for $700,000 plus attorneys fees. The lawsuit is still proceeding against the last defendant, Bonnie Tetik-Schneider.
The relators and their counsel have received more than $600,000 in relators’ share and attorneys’ fees from the settlements reached so far.
Read the Tetik Settlement Press Release
Read the NES Settlement Press Release
July 2005
Mike Behn Nominated as "Trial Lawyer of the Year" For Representing Whistleblowers: Also Speaks on Whistleblower Claims at International Lawyers Conference
Trial Lawyers for Public Justice has named Michael Behn as one of the finalists for its 2005 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award. The nationally prestigious award is bestowed annually upon the trial lawyers who have made the greatest contribution to the public interest by trying or settling a precedent-setting case. Mike and the plaintiffs' team "won justice after a 16-year battle for two whistleblowers who were fired and blackballed by one of the nation's largest defense contractors for exposing massive fraud against the Pentagon in the mid-to-late 1980s." The award will be presented at the Association of Trial Lawyers of America Conference in Toronto, where Mike has been asked to lead a workshop for other lawyers pursuing whistleblower claims.
Read the Press Release
Read Mike's Summary of Recent Retaliation Cases
May 2005
Relator Achieves Maximum 25% Recovery For Reporting Fraud By Award-Winning Road Builder
An Illinois road builder agreed to pay $500,000 to settle whistleblower-sparked allegations of billing for materials it never used in a false claims case that began five years ago when Chicago whistleblower attorney Michael I. Behn, a former federal prosecutor, was retained to bring fraud allegations to Illinois and the federal government. The whistleblower, a former employee, will receive 25 percent of settlement payments - the maximum amount available - for bringing the matter to the Government=s attention. Under the Settlement Agreement, the contractor will also pay relator=s expenses, attorney fees and costs. With this settlement, Curran has now paid $1.25 million to settle state and federal charges, Behn said.
Curran Construction, which received the 2003 Contractor of the Year Award from the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, and was nominated for the same award in 2001, violated federal and Illinois False Claims Acts (“FCA”) and their anti-retaliation statutes, according to a four-count federal civil Complaint unsealed with the settlement. The company agreed to be supervised under a three-year corporate integrity agreement monitored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Behn said. A Curran employee also pled guilty to criminal charges.
Read the Press Release
April 2005
Nevada Joins Qui Tam Lawsuit Against Drug Giant Merck
The state of Nevada is prosecuting a major False Claims
Act lawsuit filed by WAN attorney Steve Cohen against the
pharmaceutical giant Merck. The qui tam lawsuit alleges
that Merck gave hospitals discounts of up to 92 percent
on their most popular drugs, Vioxx and Zocor on the condition
that the hospitals prescribed enough of the drugs. The
goal was to create a "spillover effect" in expectation
that most patients leaving the hospital would stay on the
drugs at inflated prices. Under Medicaid rules, drug companies
have to offer their "best price" to the Government
-- a regulation blatantly ignored by Merck. The Nevada
Attorney General is a leading prosecutor in the fight against
Medicaid fraud by drug companies. It is expected that other
states and the federal government will soon join in prosecuting
the whistleblower’s claims.
Read the Press Release
Read the Complaint
Read the Wall Street Journal article
Read the Modern Health Care article
March 1 2005
$134 Million Dollar Settlement Reached In Defense Contracting Fraud Qui Tam Brought By Whistleblower Action Attorney Michael I. Behn Against Northrop Grumman Corporation
On March 1, 2005, the United States announced a settlement for $62 million dollars in connection with alleged false claims involving the B-2 "Stealth" Bomber, the F-15 Fighter and other Department of Defense Programs. The relators recovered $12.4 million dollars as their share of the government's recovery. The remainder of the $134 million dollar settlement went to the relators as compensation for their retaliatory discharge claims, to attorneys' fees, and to litigation expenses. The settlement is the result of a qui tam case civilly prosecuted by Michael I. Behn and a team of government and relators' attorneys on behalf of a former auditor and engineer employed by Northrop.
Behn has directed the legal team representing James H. Holzricter and the late Rex A. Robinson for over ten years. The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois intervened in the case in October, 2001, after Mr. Behn's investigation successfully resulted in the government's reassessment of the case.
"Jim Holzrichter and Rex Robinson finally have been vindicated and recognized for their courageous efforts to return millions for the taxpayers. This whistleblower case twisted and turned in a legal marathon that became the longest-running qui tam false claims suit in U.S. history," said Mr. Behn. "Behind the scenes over the past 15 years more than 30 attorneys and investigators in private practice and government service labored in unprecedented harmony" leading to the settlement announced today by U.S. Department of Justice.
"The extraordinary effort of Jim, Rex and our legal team over 15 long years of seeking justice cannot be understated," Behn said. The average whistleblower case takes three to five years to resolve during which a whistleblower can experience unimaginable stress.
Read the government press
release and settlement
Read the Washington Post article
Read the Chicago Sun Times article
June 2004 Whistleblower Action Attorney Mike Behn Helps
Defeat Textron’s
Attempt to Kill Lawsuit Alleging Fraud in the V-22 “Osprey” Program.
Mike represents a Chicago pension fund which is suing
Textron for fraud in the V-22 “Osprey” program.
The Osprey, which has been troubled by a series of crashes
and other problems, is manufactured by Textron’s
Bell Helicopter Unit for the U.S. Department of Defense.
On June 15, 2004, a federal judge denied Textron’s
motion to dismiss the suit, finding “that the Plaintiffs’ Amended
Complaint sufficiently alleges facts as to the Osprey to
permit a strong inference of scienter [i.e., the intent
to defraud or recklessness].”
Read the opinion
May 2004 Whistleblower
Action Attorneys Represent American Association of Retired
Persons and Tax payers Against
Fraud in Efforts
to Protect Illinois Whistleblower Reward and Protection
Act
On May 14, 2004 Whistleblower Action attorneys Steve Cohen
and Michael Behn filed a “Friend of the Court” brief
in the Illinois Supreme Court on behalf of the American
Association of Retired Persons and Taxpayers Against Fraud.
The Illinois Whistleblower Protection Reward and Protection
Act is under attack by various Wall Street investment banking
firms, which claim that the Act is unconstitutional under
the Illinois Constitution. If the defendants’ are
successful, the Illinois law could be invalidated, leaving
the State of Illinois without a law protecting the rights
of whistleblowers, which could be a severe blow to Illinois’ fraud
enforcement activity. The brief submitted on behalf of
AARP and TAF details the history, constitutionality and
social benefits of whistleblower protection in Illinois.
Read the brief
April 2004
Mike Behn’s FCA case against Northrop Corporation
Draws National Attention
A Landmark FCA case brought by Whistleblower Action attorney
Mike Behn recently made the headlines nationwide when the
court unsealed documents showing the defense contractor’s
cover-up of its fraudulent billing practices during the
late 1980’s. The unselaled documents showed how Northrop
lied to the Air Force to cover-up problems with its radar
jamming systems it was developing and submitted fraudulent
bills on other equipment.
Read the articles: Wall
Street Journal, April 19, 2002
Los Angeles Times, April
22, 2004
January 26, 2004
Whistleblower Action Network attorney Mike Behn
Teaches Course To Internal Auditors About the False Claims
Act
Mike was invited by the Institute of Internal Auditors
to giver a presentation to the group at a recent seminar
in Chicago. Mike’s presentation, “The False
Claims Act: Private Actions Against Public Frauds,” is
available upon request.
October 25, 2003
Whistleblower Action Network attorney, Steven Cohen, speaks
at 2003 Legal Aspects of Medicine course in Chicago.
View slideshow, "What
Every Physician Needs To Know About Fraud & Abuse Laws
(But Is Afraid To Ask)."
August 15, 2003
Cohen Law Group co-authors Newsletter
Cohen Law Group co-authors a newsletter that provides
readers a “primer” on
False Claims Act (FCA) litigation, report key FCA statistics
and describe
the “Hot” FCA
Enforcement Areas of 2003. The newsletter concludes with
a preview of what ’s coming next in FCA enforcement.
Read the Newsletter.
January 12, 2003
Cohen Law Group settle First-of-Its-Kind Action
Lawsuit Against Bank One
On January 12, 2003 Judge Alan Goldberg of the Circuit
Court of Cook County granted preliminary approval to a
$12 million settlement reached in a class action lawsuit
brought by Cohen Law Group and three other Chicago-based
law firms against Bank One Corporation ( Ellis Shaffer
et al. v. Bank One Corporation et al.; Case No. 97
L 16129). The lawsuit, filed in 1997, was the first class
action in the nation challenging Bank One's conversion
of its customers' trust fund assets into Bank-owned mutual
funds. Plaintiffs allege the Bank breached its fiduciary
duty to its customers by converting their assets for the
self-interested purpose of jump-starting its own mutual
fund business. Cohen Law Group represents a class of beneficiaries
whose $1.3 billion dollars in trust assets were converted
by Bank One in 1995.
The settlement with Bank One was reached in September
2002, several months after Judge Goldberg granted class
certification.
Read the Second Amended Class Action Complaint in Shaffer
et al v. Bank One Corp. et al.
Read our Reply Brief in Further Support of Class Certification
December 9, 2002
Cohen Law Group defeats Motion to Dismiss in US
ex rel Trombetta v. EMSCO Billing Services et al.;
Case No. 96 C 226.
Judge Joan Gottschall of the Northern District of Illinois
denied defendants' motion to dismiss in its entirety in
qui tam action alleging ten-year scheme by EMSCO Billing
Services, Inc., National Emergency Services, Inc., and
others, to fraudulently bill the Medicare and Medicaid
programs for emergency room physician services. Judge Gottschall
rejected each of the defendants' arguments for dismissal.
The Court's opinion favorably addresses the following issues:
the "public disclosure" and "first-to-file" provisions
of the False Claims Act, the standards for pleading fraud
with particularity under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
9(b), and the individual liability of the CEO and Chairman
of the Board of the corporate defendants.
Read Judge Gottschall's opinion in
US ex rel. Trombetta v. EMSCO Billing Services et al.
Our Brief in Opposition
to the NES' Defendants Motion to Dismiss.
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