Federal jury returns $43M judgment against Precision Lens for illegal kickbacks

A federal jury on Tuesday found a Bloomington-based distributor of lenses used in cataract surgeries and its majority owner liable for tens of millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks used to induce surgeons into using its products.

After determining that Paul Ehlen and his Cameron-Ehlen Group Inc., which does business as Precision Lens, violated the federal anti-kickback statute and False Claims Act, the jury returned a $43 million judgment against the defendants to cap a six-week trial before U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright in St. Paul.

The jury concluded that such kickbacks — spanning from luxury hunting and fishing outings to travel to major sporting events — helped win Precision Lens millions of dollars of business and caused the submission of 64,575 false claims to the Medicare program between 2006 and 2015.

https://www.startribune.com/federal-jury-returns-43m-judgement-against-precision-lens-for-illegal-kickbacks/600255144/