Ex-Obama staffer willing to testify under oath that Joe and Hunter Biden were involved in Burisma 'kickback scheme'



A former Obama administration staffer declared that he is willing to testify under oath that in 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden was involved in a "kickback scheme." The ex-Obama staffer alleged that the kickback scheme included Hunter Biden and Ukrainian gas firm Burisma.

Mike McCormick was a stenographer for the White House for 15 years – including for the Obama administration from 2011 until 2017. McCormick stated that he was aboard Air Force Two on April 21, 2014. The vice president and aide Jake Sullivan reportedly addressed the press during a trip to Kyiv, Ukraine.

"I'm sitting back there with a tape recorder. Jake Sullivan comes back and somebody asks about fracking," McCormick told Fox News. "His answer is, well, we're bringing a lot of American assistance over for fracking. Burisma was the direct beneficiary of that fracking, and that's what I recorded, and that's in a White House transcript."

The official White House transcript noted that a "senior administration official" informed the press that the U.S. government would provide Ukraine with "technology that would be required to extract unconventional gas resources."

McCormick said that official was Sullivan – who is now President Biden's national security adviser.

The senior administration official noted that "technical assistance teams from the Treasury Department and elsewhere" would be "put on the ground" in Ukraine to "help ensure" that money from Europe is "allocated in an effective way."

Three days before the senior administration official with the Obama administration promised to assist Ukraine with its energy needs, Hunter Biden joined Burisma. However, Burisma didn't announce that Biden was on its board until May 12, 2014.

McCormick said, "In the transcript, you don't know who Jake Sullivan is. It's a senior administration official. I'm the witness that says Jake Sullivan is the guy who said it, and he should be investigated because at the time Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma, and Joe Biden is bringing American taxpayer money to enrich that company and himself and his family."

In November 2014, the White House boasted that it had committed nearly $320 million in assistance to Ukraine that year, as well as a $1 billion sovereign loan guarantee. The money was said to assist Ukraine with economic stabilization, security sector capacity building, national unity, democracy, human rights, anti-corruption initiatives, humanitarian assistance, trade diversification, and energy security.

McCormick told the Daily Mail, "Now that I've looked in Hunter's laptop, I realize that Sullivan was telling the press we're going to be helping Ukraine's fracking industry. Burisma Holdings was one of the only companies licensed to do fracking in Ukraine. And Joe Biden would have known that."

The Daily Mail reported this month, "According to energy industry publication KeyFactsEnergy.com it began using hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, in 2016 and by May 2019 used the technology in 10% of its wells. A Burisma executive explained how the company benefited from the help of US expertise in Ukraine, in a 2017 interview with Ukrainian trade publication Nefterynok."

Reuters reported that Burisma had revenues of at least $400 million in 2018.

McCormick said that he had notified the FBI of the allegations and is willing to testify under oath before the federal grand jury investigating Hunter in Delaware.

"In February, I went to the FBI and filed one of their tips on their website. If you do that, and you're lying to them, you go to jail. I'm not lying. I'm telling the truth, and I'm not going to jail," McCormick proclaimed. "Joe Biden is a criminal. He was conducting malfeasance in office to enrich his family. Jake Sullivan is a conspirator in that, and there's more Obama officials involved in it, I believe."

McCormick said former President Barack Obama should be called as a witness in the grand jury investigation "because he's part of the conspiracy."

Biden has repeatedly denied accusations that he has discussed his son's overseas business dealings or has financially benefitted from any alleged influence-peddling by Hunter Biden.

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'Joe Biden is a criminal': Obama-era staffer blows whistle on Biden's business deals www.youtube.com

Johnson & Johnson subsidiary to pay nearly $10 million for giving free medical products to surgeon: 'Unlawful kickbacks can severely distort medical judgment'



A subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay nearly $10 million over accusations that the pharmaceutical company broke state and federal law by providing illicit kickbacks to a surgeon.

DePuy Synthes is a company that specializes in medical devices primarily designed for orthopedic, joint reconstruction, trauma, craniomaxillofacial, spinal surgery, and sports medicine applications. DePuy Synthes was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1998.

Between 2013 and 2018, DePuy Synthes gave a Massachusetts surgeon surgical implants and instruments for spinal surgeries worth approximately $100,000.

U.S. attorney Rachael S. Rollins said, "Today the United States resolves allegations that DePuy provided over $100,000 worth of free product to a surgeon in order to secure and reward that physician’s continued business."

The surgeon — whose name was redacted — performed more than 20 surgeries during the time period in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

The United States Attorney's Office declared in a statement, "In many of these surgeries, the surgeon used DePuy products, worth thousands of dollars, that DePuy sales representatives had provided to him. The DePuy products that DePuy gave to the surgeon were sometimes not available at the hospitals and/or with the third-party sales distributors in the countries where the surgeon operated overseas."

The statement noted, "DePuy did not request or receive payment from the surgeon, the hospitals, or the third-party sales distributors in the countries where the surgeon operated overseas; nor did the surgeon, the overseas hospitals, the third-party sales distributors, or anyone else, pay DePuy for the products that it gave to the surgeon and the surgeon used abroad."

Prosecutors accused DePuy Synthes of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by providing the surgeon with free medical products.

The federal Anti-Kickback Statute is a "criminal statute that prohibits the exchange (or offer to exchange), of anything of value, in an effort to induce (or reward) the referral of business reimbursable by federal healthcare programs."

The False Claims Act is a federal statute that states, "Any person who knowingly submitted false claims to the government was liable for double the government’s damages plus a penalty of $2,000 for each false claim," according to the Department of Justice.

Rollins said of the allegations, "Unlawful kickbacks can severely distort medical judgment as well as the market for medical devices. The millions of patients that depend on our healthcare system deserve untainted medical decisions. This settlement reflects our commitment to stamping out illegal kickbacks."

Phillip M. Coyne, special agent in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, said, "The American people, as both taxpayers and consumers, expect medical device manufacturers like DePuy to abide by relevant laws and regulations. When such healthcare companies provide illegal kickbacks in order to boost profits, their actions erode public confidence in the health care system, can compromise the patient-physician relationship, and waste government health program funding."

Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Boston Division, called DePuy's actions an attempt to "boost their bottom line through illegal kickback schemes."

Johnson & Johnson, DePuy Synthes, Inc., and DePuy Synthes Sales, Inc. have settled and agreed to pay about $9.75 million to resolve the accusations.

The Associated Press reported, "About $7.2 million of the $9.75 million settlement will go to the federal government, and about $2.5 million to the state. More than $1.8 million of the federal portion will go to the whistleblower who brought the original suit in 2017 under a legal provision that lets private parties sue on behalf of the government and share in any recovery."

Johnson & Johnson issued a statement on the settlement, "We have fully cooperated with the government throughout its investigation of the allegations and were credited for that cooperation in the settlement. This settlement avoids further lengthy legal processes. We are committed to ensuring our employees conduct business in a way that complies with our credo and with all laws and regulations."

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Pharmaceutical company agrees to settle for $900M to resolve allegations it provided kickbacks to physicians and submitted false claims



Biogen Inc., a pharmaceutical company that produces multiple sclerosis drugs, agreed to settle for $900 million to resolve allegations that it provided kickbacks to physicians and submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid, the Justice Department announced Monday.

A former Biogen employee, Michael Bawduniak, filed the lawsuit against the Massachusetts-based company accusing Biogen of providing kickbacks to health care professionals in exchange for prescribing its multiple sclerosis drugs. The complaint alleged that Biogen provided physicians with improper payments from January 1, 2009, through March 18, 2014.

Bawduniak alleged that the payments were disguised as reimbursements to physicians who spoke at or attended the company’s speaker programs, speaker training meetings, or consultant programs. During those events, health care professionals collected remunerations from Biogen labeled as speaker honoraria, speaker training fees, consulting fees, and compensated meals.

The lawsuit alleged that in exchange for the payments, physicians were expected to prescribe to their patients Biogen drugs, including Avonex, Tysabri, and Tecfidera, which would be in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.

Bawduniak’s case was filed against the pharmaceutical company under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows private parties to submit cases on behalf of the federal government and receive a portion of any monetary recovery. The United States may intervene and file a complaint against the company, or, as in this case, the whistleblower may proceed with the lawsuit.

“The relator diligently pursued this matter on behalf of the United States for over seven years,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton. “The settlement announced today underscores the critical role that whistleblowers play in complementing the United States’ use of the False Claims Act to combat fraud affecting federal health care programs.”

The pharmaceutical company agreed to pay $843,805,187 to the United States and $56,194,813 to 15 states. Bawduniak will receive about $250 million of the federal proceeds from the settlement.

“We thank Mr. Bawduniak for uncovering this behavior and bringing it to light,” said U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins for the District of Massachusetts. “This matter is an important example of the vital role that whistleblowers and their attorneys can play in protecting our nation’s public health care programs.”

In the settlement agreement, Biogen did not admit to any wrongdoing. “Biogen believes its intent and conduct was at all times lawful and appropriate and Biogen denies all allegations raised in this case,” the company said in a Monday statement. “The U.S. and the states did not intervene in the case and the settlement does not include any admission of liability by Biogen.”