Indian Whistleblower Ravi Srivastava Gets $2 Million Reward in Trident USA Health Services LLC's Alleged Kickback Scheme
September 25, 2019 - Indian whistleblower Ravi Srivastava will receive $2,018,750.00 as his share of the government’s $8.5 million civil settlement to resolve two False Claims Act cases against Trident USA Health Services LLC, Symphony Diagnostic Services No. 1, Inc. dba MobilexUSA.
The two civil lawsuits against MobilexUSA a.k.a Trident USA Health Services, LLC were filed by whistleblowers Ravi Srivastava (former Trident's Chief Information Officer) and Peter Goldman (former Trident's Regional Sales Manager) respectively on behalf of the United States.
According to the case documents and government's investigation:
Trident provides mobile diagnostic services, including mobile x-rays, to individuals residing in skilled nursing facilities. The United States pays Trident to provide mobile x-rays to Medicare and Medicaid participants in these skilled nursing facilities. Whistleblower Srivastava had been Trident’s Chief Information Officer, and whistleblower Goldman had been a Trident regional sales manager. Based upon these whistleblowers’ allegations that Trident was engaged in a kickback scheme with skilled nursing facilities, the government investigated Trident’s pricing arrangements and its costs to provide mobile x-rays at these facilities.Trident filed for bankruptcy protection on February 10, 2019 seeking to extinguish the government’s ability to collect any damages or penalties related to the illegal swapping arrangements.
...from approximately June 2006 through September 2019, Trident engaged in illegal “swapping” arrangements under which Trident provided mobile x-rays to skilled nursing facilities at prices below Trident’s costs to provide the services, or below fair market value, for the purpose of inducing the facilities to refer lucrative federal health program business to Trident. Federal law prohibits the payment of kickbacks in exchange for the referral of federal healthcare business, including for healthcare that will be paid by the federal government through Medicare or Medicaid. Trident, like other companies that submit claims for payment to Medicare or Medicaid, is required to certify that it is compliant with federal anti-kickback laws. The government alleges that Trident’s certifications of anti-kickback law compliance were false certifications.
However, the pursuit of civil cases by government and whistleblowers Ravi Srivastava and Peter Goldman ultimately resulted in $8.5 million dollar settlement payment from Trident USA Healthcare Services to resolve False Claims Act Liability for alleged kickback scheme.
Whistleblowers Ravi Srivastava and Peter Goldman will receive $2,018,750.00 and $106,250.00 respectivley as their share of the government’s $8.5 million recovery.
The alleged kickback scheme against Trident USA Health Services LLC was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General and the lawsuits were handled by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Civil Frauds Branch of the Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The government’s settled civil claims are based on allegations and there has been no court determination of liability.