Expanded Corporate Crime Database Highlights Fraud by Healthcare Companies and Banks

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Since the beginning of 2010, drug manufacturers, hospital systems, insurers and other healthcare companies have paid nearly $7 billion in fines and settlements to resolve cases in which they were accused of defrauding the federal government. Banks, led by Wells Fargo, account for the second largest portion of False Claims Act penalties, with more than $3 billion in payments. More than one-third of the 100 largest federal contractors have been defendants in such cases during the seven-year period.

These are some of the key findings that emerge from an expansion of Violation Tracker, a database of corporate crime and misconduct produced by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First. It is available to the public for free at http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/violation-tracker.

With the addition of more than 750 cases relating to the 150-year-old False Claims Act and similar laws, Violation Tracker now contains a total of 112,000 entries from 30 federal regulatory agencies and all divisions of the Justice Department.  

"The inclusion of False Claims Act cases is another milestone in our ongoing effort to make Violation Tracker a comprehensive data resource on corporate crime and regulatory misconduct," said Philip Mattera, who heads the Corporate Research Project and leads the work on Violation Tracker.

Among the newly added cases involving healthcare companies, the largest is the $784 million settlement the Justice Department reached last April with Pfizer and its subsidiary Wyeth to resolve allegations that they overcharged the Medicaid program. DaVita HealthCare Partners, a leading dialysis provider, was involved in the next two largest cases, in which it had to pay a total of $800 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in wasteful practices and paid referral kickbacks while providing services covered under federal healthcare programs.

Wells Fargo accounts for the largest banking-related penalty and the largest False Claims Act case overall in the new data: a $1.2 billion settlement earlier this year to resolve allegations that the bank falsely certified to the Department of Housing and Urban Development that certain residential home mortgage loans were eligible for Federal Housing Administration insurance.

Good Jobs First is a Washington, DC-based resource center promoting accountability in economic development subsidies and smart growth for working families. Its Corporate Research Project provides research resources for organizations and individuals concerned about corporate accountability.

Contact: Phil Mattera, 202-232-1616, [email protected]

SOURCE Good Jobs First

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