The whistleblower, a former employee of NMC, will receive $282,017 in addition to payment of his attorney's fees and costs by NMC.

In January 2000, National Medical Care, which is owned by Fresenius Medicare Care AG, settled its health care fraud case for $486 million with the Justice Department. The settlement, at that time the largest ever for a U.S. health-care fraud case, covered alleged fraud from 1987 to 1997. Whistle blowers in the related cases collected $65.8 million.

April 3, 2002 - Some of the money from the 1999 Fresenius Medical Care billing fraud settlement, covering alleged fraud committed by its subsidiaries (which it did not own at the time) from 1987 to 1997, is finally reaching the affected state Medicaid programs.

The Attorney General of Kansas, Carla J. Stovall, announced this week that her Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division has recovered more than $90,000 for the Medicaid program as part of a health care fraud settlement with Fresenius Medical Care of North America (FMCNA). Press release from the Kansas AG.

In November 1999, Fresenius announced that it would take a $590 million charge (pre-tax) against third quarter revenues to resolve the legal issues covered by the OIG investigation into the activities of National Medical Care (NMC) and its subsidiaries. Here is the 1999 press release from the Fresenius (FMCNA) web site.

As part of the agreement Fresenius entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) with the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The CIA, which has an eight year term, requires Fresenius to provide corporate compliance officers at various levels of the organization. Here is the Corporate Compliance program information from the FMCNA web site.

January 23, 2001 - The US Attorney in Boston, Donald K. Stern, is preparing to move on to the private sector. Stern has been very successful in pursuing healthcare fraud cases.

Between 1994 and 2000, Stern's office took in $862.5 million in fines, penalties, and property seizures.

January 9, 2001 - The US Attorney in Boston announced that his office recovered a record-breaking $379 million during fiscal year 2000 from individuals and corporations that violated US laws. Nearly all of that amount, $371 million, was recovered from Fresenius Medical Care North America to settle claims of alleged fraud committed by its subsidiaries (which it did not own at the time) from 1987 to 1997.

December 5, 2000 - Here is an article from Modern Healthcare that explains how a team of federal agencies successfully employed high-tech software analytical tools and data-mining techniques to pursue both civil and criminal cases on a grand scale against National Medical Care (NMC), a subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care North America.

The civil and criminal cases were settled early in 2000 for approximately $486 million.

May 4, 2000 - The Boston Globe ran a story today at the top of page 1 that reported that the whistleblowers who received $18 million in the National Medical Care fraud case may have participated in some of the illegal activities.

March 9, 2000 - Fresenius Medical Care AG released its 4th quarter and full 1999 earnings reports today. Solid growth for 1999 was seen, but Fresenius posted a net loss for 1999 of $249 million due to a one-off charge from its legal dispute in the United States (detailed below).

Fresenius spent $111 million on acquisitions last year, compared with $265 million in 1998.

Here is an up-to-the-hour quote and the one-year history of the Fresenius stock price on the NYSE.

February 9, 2000 - Connecticut General Life Insurance Co and other insurers filed suit against National Medical Care Inc., which Fresenius bought in 1997, stating that NMC had cost insurers at least $100 million in part by inducing doctors and dialysis centers to perform "unnecessary and sometimes dangerous medical procedures."

February 2, 2000 - Three subsidiaries of Fresenius Medical Care pled guilty in federal district court to criminal conspiracy charges and were ordered to pay fines totaling $101 million.

Fresenius also announced final court approval of its settlement with the US Government.

January 19, 2000 - National Medical Care, which is owned by Fresenius Medicare Care AG, has settled its health care fraud case for $486 million with the Justice Department. The settlement, largest ever for a U.S. health-care fraud case, covers alleged fraud from 1987 to 1997. Whistle blowers in the related cases will collect $65.8 million.

November 23, 1999 - Fresenius announced that they will take a $590 million charge (pre-tax) against third quarter revenues to resolve the legal issues covered by the OIG investigation into the activities of National Medical Care (NMC) and its subsidiaries. Here is the press release from the Fresenius (FMCNA) web site.

This preliminary agreement with U.S. Government will "result in an estimated net settlement amount of approximately $415 million. This net settlement amount is the result of civil and criminal payments of approximately $485 million to the United States government, less a payment by the U.S. government to the Company of approximately $70 million of IDPN receivables for services rendered before December 31, 1998", according to the press release.

The announcement had little effect on Fresenius's stock price. Fresenius closed Monday at $26.62 before the announcement. It closed Tuesday at $25.87 after a full day of trading after the announcement. On Wednesday, November 24, the stock closed again at Monday's $26.62 level.

November 2, 1999

Fresenius has announced that it will take a significant charge against the 3rd quarter earnings to resolve the US legal issues associated with NMC's lab services. Estimates are that Fresenius may have to pay $350-500 million to settle the legal issues.