Criminal Prosecution, Laboratories

EKRA Has Teeth: Ninth Circuit Upholds Lab Operator’s Criminal Conviction for Paying Marketers for Referrals

Venable LLP on 8/1/2025

In a matter of first impression, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals interpreted the scope of the 2018 Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA) in the context of a lab operator who allegedly paid marketers to induce...more

Inside the Ninth Circuit’s Interpretation of EKRA: Clarity for Kickback Law

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 7/23/2025

On July 11, 2025, in United States v. Schena,[1] the Ninth Circuit adopted an expansive interpretation of the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA), applying the law to any payment that could have the effect of...more

Ninth Circuit Applies EKRA to Marketing Intermediaries in Lab Operator’s Allergy Testing Scheme

Epstein Becker & Green on 7/22/2025

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has held that a laboratory owner’s payments to marketing intermediaries violated the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA)—in its first interpretation of the statute...more

In Case of First Impression, Looking to AKS Precedent, Ninth Circuit Affirms EKRA Conviction for Improper Payments to Marketers

BakerHostetler on 7/21/2025

In one of the few prosecutions based on the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA), and in an even rarer Court of Appeals opinion interpreting the statute, the Ninth Circuit in United States v. Schena, No. 23-2989, 2025...more

DOJ Criminal Fraud Section’s Annual Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action: “We Are a Target-Rich Environment”

Epstein Becker & Green on 7/9/2024

On June 27, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“HHS-OIG”), along with other federal and state law enforcement partners, announced...more

Nationwide Healthcare Prosecutions Targeting an Array of Practices . . . Is "Just The Beginning"

Bracewell LLP on 7/22/2017

On July 13, 2017, the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"), continued its annual tradition of coordinating the filing of charges and sweeping arrests in...more