USA News: Pfizer to Pay $2.3 Billion for Fraudulent Marketing

From Department of Justice News

 WASHINGTON – American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. (hereinafter together "Pfizer") have agreed to pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice, to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products, the Justice Department announced today.  Click here to read more.

Harris, Gardiner, "Pfizer Pays $2.3 Billion to Settle Marketing Case," The New York Times, September 2, 2009.

Johnson, Carrie, "Pfizer, Subsidiary to Pay $2.3B in Health-Care Fraud Case," The Washington Post, Setember 2, 2009.

The New York Times and the Washington Post  do not mention how the government found the wrongdoing.  Taxpayers Against Fraud (TAF), a non profit organization in DC, released details about six whistleblowers relating to this case.

Click here to read more about the six whistleblowers and attorneys from the Taxpayers Against Fraud.

The False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. Sections 3729-3733), As amended, May 2009

Top 20 Qui Tam Cases selected by the TAF

False Claims Statistics from Department of Justice (FY 1986 - 2008)

Selected Bibliography of the False Claims Act (from 1993 to 2007)

Androphy, Joel M. Federal False Claims Act and Qui Tam Litigation. New York: ALM Properties, Inc., Law Journal Press, 2005.

Bales, Richard A. "A Constitutional Defense of Qui Tam." Wisconsin Law Review 2001, no. 2 (2001): 381-439.

Boese, John T. Civil False Claims and Qui Tam Actions. 3 ed. 2 vols. Vol. 1. New York: Aspen Publishers, 2006.

Broderick, Christina Orsini. "Qui Tam Provisions and the Public Interest: An Empirical Analysis." Columbia Law Review 107, (2007): 949-1001.

Burke, Anna Mae Walsh. "Qui Tam: Blowing the Whistle for Uncle Sam." Nova Law Review 21, (1997): 869-84.

Calvert, Loretta. "The Qui Tam Provision of the False Claims Act: Congressional Missile or a Net Full of Holes?" Annual Survey of American Law (1998): 435-61.

Cantwell, Earl K. "False Claims Act: 1986 Amendments Spawn Increased New Filings." Defense Counsel Journal 60, (1993): 274-79.

Cassisa, Margaret A. "Silencing the Whistleblower's Whistle: The Eleventh Amendment and Soverign Immunity in Qui Tam Actions Filed against the States without Government Intervention." Loyola Law Review 45, (1999): 565-84.

Ho, James Y. "State Sovereign Immunity and the False Claims Act: Respecting the Limitations Created by the Eleventh Amendment Upon the Federal Courts." Fordham Law Review 68, (1999): 189-224.

Moncus, James Roy III. "The Marriage of the False Claims Act and the Freedom of Information Act: Parasitic Potential or Positive Synergy?" Vanderbilt Law Review 55, (2002): 1549-90.

Morenberg, Paul W. "Environmental Fraud by Government Contractors: A New Application of the False Claims Act." Environmental Affairs Law Review 22, (1995): 623-69.

Park, Daniel W. "False Claims Act Suits Should Concern Defense Contractors." National Defense 88, no. 596 (2003): 40.

Rosenbloom, David. Administrative Law for Public Managers. Boulder: Westview Press, 2003.

Ruhnka, John C., Edward J. Gac, and Heidi Boerstler. "Qui Tam Claims: Threat to Voluntary Compliance Programs in Health Care Organizations." Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 25, no. 2 (2000): 283-308.

Scammell, Henry. Giant Killers: The Team and the Law That Help Whistle-Blower Recover America's Stolen Billions. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2004.