Early this month, Olympus Corp. of the Americas (OCA) settled government investigations related to violations of the U.S. AntiKickback Statute (AKS) and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). OCA will pay $623 million to settle criminal and civil allegations of AKS violations, and the company's Latin American subsidiary (OLA) will pay $22.8 million to settle allegations of FCPA violations. OLA entered into a three-year Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the Department of Justice (DOJ) Fraud Section under which it agreed to hire a compliance monitor and to implement various compliance enhancements. OCA entered into a separate DPA related to the AKS violations and agreed to hire the same monitor. According to the DOJ, OCA obtained more than $600 million in sales as a result of kickbacks paid to doctors and hospitals in the United States and more than $7 million in sales from bribes that OLA paid to health care practitioners at governmentowned facilities in Central and South America. In addition to cash payments, OLA also paid for personal travel and provided heavily discounted equipment to physicians working for government facilities.
The case was initiated by OCA's former compliance officer, who filed a qui tam complaint in the District of New Jersey under the False Claims Act. The former employee will receive more than $50 million from the civil settlement. To learn more read OCA's press release and coverage from Bloomberg BNA and Forbes.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.