Joseph M. Piacentile, M.D., J.D., Esq. – C.E.O.

Joseph Piacentile, M.D., J.D., Esq., is the Founder and CEO of Whistleblowers Against Fraud, LLC (“WAF”), Whistleblowers International of Puerto Rico, LLC (“WBI”), and co-founder and CEO of Piacentile, Stefanowski & Malherbe LLP d/b/a Whistleblowers International. Dr. Joe has dedicated more than 28 years of his professional career to seeking justice against those who commit fraud against the U.S. government. Dr. Joe has assisted the U.S. government in recovering more than $9 billion dollars.Dr. Joe, as he is called in the industry, has been in involved in all manner and types of whistleblower cases, including Federal and State False Claims Act cases, SEC Whistleblower cases, Foreign Corrupt Practice Act cases, California Department of Insurance fraud cases, and has consulted on shareholder class actions, mass tort liability claims, amongst many others.

Dr. Joe is a licensed physician, with a degree from Georgetown University Medical School, and a New York licensed attorney with a degree from New York Law School. He is an expert in a broad array of healthcare and pharmaceutical issues. Dr. Joe has developed an extensive arsenal of expertise across many industries, with a particular level of expertise in pharmaceutical and medical device medico-legal issues, such as illegal kickbacks, off-label marketing, misbranding and “white-coat marketing.”

Bar Admissions

• New York
• District of Columbia (application pending)

Education

• New York Law School (J.D.)
• Georgetown University Medical School (M.D.)

Whistleblowers International Successes

• June 19, 1996 – ADVANCED CARE ASSOCIATES PAID U.S. $4 MILLION TO SETTLE MEDICARE CLAIMS
  A Pennsylvania supplier of medical equipment and its former owners paid the United States more than $4 million today to settle allegations they defrauded Medicare of millions of dollars by filing false claims for reimbursement.

• October 23, 2006 – MEDCO PAID $155 MILLION TO SETTLE FALSE CLAIMS ACT
  Cases Settled allegations that the company submitted false claims to the government, solicited and accepted kickbacks from pharmaceutical manufacturers to favor their drugs and paid kickbacks to health plans to obtain business.

• September 28, 2007 – BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB AGREED TO PAY OVER $515 MILLION
  BMS and its subsidiary, Apothecon, paid illegal remuneration to physicians, retail pharmacy and wholesaler customers to induce them to purchase BMS drugs, causing the submission of false and fraudulent claims to the federal health care programs.

• November 2, 2007 – HORIZON NATIONAL HEALTHCARE PLEADED TO CONSPIRING TO DEFRAUD MEDICAID OF APPROXIMATELY $5.5 MILLION
  Conspired to submit inflated claims for payment to Medicaid for services rendered to certain Medicaid patients at their adult medical day care centers. Those patients did not receive the claimed services.

• March 27, 2008 – OTSUKA PAID MORE THAN $4 MILLION TO RESOLVE OFF-LABEL MARKETING ALLEGATIONS
  Otsuka knowingly promoted the sale and use of Abilify for pediatric use and to treat dementia-related psychosis, though the drug is approved to treat adult schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, but NOT dementia-related psychosis.

• September 29, 2008 – CEPHALON PAID $425 MILLION FOR OFF-LABEL MARKETING VIOLATIONS
  Settled allegations with the U.S. government related to the illegal off-label marketing of three of its drugs – Actiq, Gabitril and Provigil. Bristol-Myers Squibb Paid $515 Million for Illegal Drug Marketing and Pricing Settled allegations with the U.S. government to resolve a broad array of allegations involving the company’s drug marketing and pricing practices.

• September 15, 2010 – FOREST PHARMACEUTICALS PAID MORE THAN $313 MILLION TO RESOLVE CRIMINAL CHARGES AND FALSE CLAIMS ACT ALLEGATIONS
  Plead guilty to charges relating to the distribution of Levothroid, at the time an unapproved new drug, and the illegal promotion of Celexa for use in treating children and adolescents suffering from depression. The company also agreed to settle pending FCA allegations that Forest caused false claims to be submitted to federal health care programs for the drugs Levothroid, Celexa, and Lexapro.

• May 7, 2012 – ABBOTT LABS PAID $1.5 BILLION TO RESOLVE DEPAKOTE INVESTIGATIONS
  Abbott plead guilty to misbranding Depakote by promoting the drug to control agitation and aggression in elderly dementia patients and to treat schizophrenia when neither of these uses was FDA-approved.

• July 2, 2012 – GSK PAID $3 BILLION IN LARGEST HEALTH CARE FRAUD SETTLEMENT IN U.S. HISTORY
  GlaxoSmithKline paid $2 billion to resolve its civil liabilities with the federal government under the False Claims Act. The civil settlement resolves claims relating to Paxil, Wellbutrin and Avandia, as well as additional drugs, and also resolves pricing fraud allegations.

• December 19, 2012 – ERICSSON AGREES TO PAY OVER $1 BILLION TO RESOLVE FCPA CASE
  Ericsson subsidiary pleads guilty to FCPA violations. Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Ericsson or the Company), a multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, has agreed to pay total penalties of more than $1 billion to resolve the government’s investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

• December 19, 2012 –AMGEN INC. PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL CHARGE; PAYS $762 MILLION TO RESOLVE CRIMINAL LIABILITY AND FALSE CLAIMS ACT ALLEGATIONS
  Amgen pled guilty to paying illegal bonuses to medical chemotherapy doctors for overprescribing medically unnecessary chemotherapy to their patients.

• March 5, 2013 – PAR PHARMACEUTICALS PAID $45 MILLION TO RESOLVE CIVIL AND CRIMINAL ALLEGATIONS RELATED TO OFF-LABEL MARKETING
  Par Pharmaceutical Companies Inc. pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $45 million to resolve its liability in the company’s promotion of its prescription drug Megace ES for uses not approved as safe and effective by the FDA and not covered by federal health care programs.

• November 4, 2013 – JOHNSON & JOHNSON PAID $2.2 BILLION TO RESOLVE OFF-LABEL MARKETING AND KICKBACK ALLEGATIONS
  J&J agreed to pay more than $2.2 billion to resolve allegations it promoted Risperdal, Invega and Natecor for off-label uses. The company promoted Risperdal for use in children and individuals with mental illness, while knowing that the drug posed health risks to children.

• February 21, 2014 –ENDO PHARMACEUTICALS PAID $192.7M TO RESOLVE LIABILITY FOR MARKETING PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FOR UNAPPROVED USES
  Marketed the prescription drug Lidoderm for uses not approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration.

• April 23, 2014 – AMEDYSIS PAID $150 MILLION TO RESOLVE FALSE CLAIMS ACT ALLEGATIONS
  Amedysis violated the False Claims Act by submitting false home healthcare billings to the Medicare program.

• September 24, 2014 – ENZO BIOCHEM AND ENZO CLINICAL LABORATORIES PAID $3.5 MILLION
  Enzo wrongfully input diagnosis codes into claim forms that it submitted for payment to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

• April 7, 2015 – PREVENTIVE MEDICINE ASSOCIATES PAID $9.3 MILLION FOR RUNNING MEDICAID KICKBACK AND FALSE BILLING SCHEME
  A Massachusetts doctor pleaded guilty, was sentenced to jail, and paid $9.3 million in restitution for running an intricate Medicaid fraud scheme involving millions of dollars in taxpayer funds.

• October 29, 2015 – WARNER CHILCOTT PAID $125 MILLION FOR FELONY HEALTH CARE FRAUD SCHEME
  Warner Chilcott paid $125 million to resolve its criminal and civil liability arising from the company’s illegal marketing of the drugs Actonel, Asacol, Atelvia, Doryx, Enablex, Estrace and Loestrin.

• June 29, 2016 – CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEMS PAID $8 MILLION FOR PAYING ILLEGAL KICKBACKS TO PHYSICIANS
  Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. paid illegal kickbacks to induce physicians to use the company’s medical devices.

• October 17, 2016 – OMNICARE PAID $28 MILLION TO SETTLE TO SETTLE KICKBACK ALLEGATIONS
  Omnicare solicited and received kickbacks from pharmaceutical manufacturer Abbott Laboratories in exchange for promoting the prescription drug, Depakote, for nursing home patients.

• January 17, 2017 – McKESSON PAID RECORD $150 MILLION SETTLEMENT FOR FAILURE TO REPORT SUSPICIOUS ORDERS OF PHARMACEUTICAL DRUGS
  In 2008, McKesson agreed to a $13.25 million civil penalty for failing to design and implement an effective system to detect and report “suspicious orders” for controlled substances. The government’s investigation developed evidence that even after designing a compliance program after the 2008 settlement, McKesson did not fully implement or adhere to its own program.

• May 11, 2017 – $54 MILLION SETTLEMENT RESOLVING WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIMS AGAINST CARECORE NATIONAL LLC ANNOUNCED
  Seeger Weiss LLP and Milberg LLP today announced that the U.S. Department of Justice, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and several state Attorneys’ General Medicaid Fraud Units, have reached a $54 million settlement in a newly-unsealed healthcare fraud whistleblower action against CareCore National LLC. The company, headquartered in Blufton, SC, provides pre-authorization/pre-certification services for diagnostic testing to ensure that only medically reasonable and necessary tests are performed on patients and paid for by insurers. Of the $54 million recovery, $45 million will go to the federal government and $9 million will go to various participating states.

• November 12, 2020 – ERANGA CARDIOLOGY TO PAY $500,00 TO RESOLVE HEALTH CARE FRAUD ALLEGATIONS
  The practice submitted claims for reimbursement to Medicare and Medicaid that required both performance of cardiology procedures and the generation of corresponding interpretive reports. The United States alleged that the practice submitted and received payment for these claims without generating th required interpretive reports.

• December 21, 2020 – MEDICAL EQUIPMENT PROVIDER, APRIA HEALTHCARE TO PAY $40.5 MILLION FOR FRAUDULENT BILLING PRACTICES
  Apria submitted false claims to federal health programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, seeking reimbursement for the rental of costly non-invasive ventilators (“NIVs”) to program beneficiaries who were not using the NIVs such that the devices were not medically necessary or that involved the improper waiver of patient co-insurance payments.

• August 25, 2021 – DOWNEY COMPANY THAT PROVIDES IN-HOME RESPIRATORY SERVICES TO PAY OVER $3.3 MILLION TO RESOLVE FRAUD ALLEGATIONS
  SuperCare Health, Inc., a Downey-based provider of home respiratory services and durable medical equipment, has agreed to pay $3,315,308 to resolve allegations that it defrauded public health care programs by billing for ventilator services that were not medically necessary or reasonable.

• August 25, 2021 – GEORGIA PSYCHOTHERAPY SERVICES PROVIDER CARENOW TO PAY $2 MILLION TO RESOLVE FALSE CLAIMS ALLEGATIONS
  Carenow Services, LLC, a Roswell-based psychotherapy services provider, as well as its CEO Leena Karun (collectively “Carenow”), have agreed to pay $2 million to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare and Medicaid for psychotherapy sessions at nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities that were medically unnecessary, improperly documented, or billed at higher intensity levels than justified.

Dr. Joe In the News 

Welcome To The Whistleblower Winner’s Circle

“One of the first successful whistleblowers I came into contact with was Dr. Joseph Piacentile.  Dr. Joe, the Founder and CEO of Whistleblowers Against Fraud, has assisted the U.S. government in recovering billions over the past 26 years. He is best known for his work fighting pharmaceutical fraud. […]

According to Dr. Joe,

‘Whistleblowing empowers each and every citizen to effect meaningful reforms in business and directly impact the lives of the millions of people who seek medical attention, who take prescription medications, who apply for federally-funded housing, or attend trade schools paid for with federal student loans and grants, and the precious men and women in our military who rely on the Defense industry for honest, safe, well-made equipment—equipment that won’t fall apart in the battlefield’.”

– Forbes, May 17, 2018

“Financial Fraud’s Worst Nightmare Might Be Whistleblower Joseph Piacentile”

– FinancialFraudLaw.com, May 26, 2010  

Howard Solomon’s Career May Meet a Sad End

The Forest Laboratories CEO, who built his company’s fortune on the antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro, faces exile from the health-care industry:

“Forest’s troubles began in 2001, when Joseph Piacentile, a non-practicing physician in N.J., filed an action alleging that Forest was providing kickbacks to doctors who prescribed Celexa.”

– Bloomberg BusinessWeek, July 14, 2011

“Here is a qui tam riddle: What does Wednesday’s False Claims Act suit against Forest Laboratories have in common with the FCA cases against Medco Health Solutions (settled in 2006 for $155 million), Bristol- Myers Squibb (settled in 2007 for $515 million), and Cephalon Inc. (settled in 2008 for $425 million)? 

Oh sure, they’re all suits against pharmaceutical companies accused of illegal marketing. And yes, they were all initiated by whistleblowers who then persuaded the federal government to intervene. But there’s something else that ties the cases together: Each featured a whistle-blower named Joseph Piacentile, a non-practicing New Jersey physician who now makes a living suing drug companies.”

– The American Lawyer, February 27, 2009  

“Some call Joseph Piacentile a hero. Over the last 15 years, the New Jersey physician has been a whistle- blower in antifraud lawsuits that have returned more than $1 billion to the U.S. Treasury … charming and adept at getting others to talk about illicit behavior, say ten lawyers who have been involved in Piacentile cases, including James Sheehan, a former associate U.S. attorney for civil programs in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania”

The American Lawyer, June 1, 2010

Dr. Piacentile has worked with the following law firms:

◈ Phillips & Cohen

◈ Berger & Montague

 ◈ Milberg

◈ Sanders Phillips & Grossman

◈ Boies Schiller Flexner

◈ Stone & Magnanini

◈ Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein

◈ Motley Rice

◈ Barron & Budd

◈ Constantine Cannon

◈ Mark Mueller Law Firm

◈ Susman Godfrey

◈ Blank Rome

◈ Kessler Topaz

◈ Seeger Weiss

◈ Dean Zerbe

◈ Venable

◈ Kostelanetz & Fink

◈ Molo Lamken

◈ Sanford Heisler Sharp

◈ Kirby McInerney

◈ Kirk Chapman Law Firm