A Landmark Settlement with Lessons Learned for Compliance Officers
Walgreens reached a settlement on Tuesday, concluding a six-year investigation into the company’s pharmacy and drug-pricing practices, initiated by a whistleblower and former pharmacy manager. CCI reports on the specifics of the case and the historic settlement.
The attorney representing the whistleblower in a historic case against Walgreens says the landmark settlement sends a clear message to compliance officers everywhere.
“Compliance officers, your job is vital,” said Andrew M. Beato of Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP, speaking by phone Wednesday to Corporate Compliance Insights. “Compliance officers are the last line of defense (for a company) before it goes to this type of outcome.”
Walgreens will pay $60 million in the largest-ever settlement by a pharmacy chain for overcharging for drugs. Announced Tuesday, the settlement was the result of a complaint filed in 2012 by a former pharmacy manager in Florida.
Beato, who leads the Washington D.C.-based firm’s whistleblower practice group, represented whistleblower Marc D. Baker in the case, which was part of a six-year, multipronged investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and numerous State Attorneys…
