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New York, NY– Today, the Department of Justice announced a $10 million settlement with Florida-based medical device company Stimwave, and a criminal indictment charging former CEO Laura Perryman in connection with a scheme to create and sell a non-functioning dummy medical device for implantation into patients suffering from chronic pain. The scheme resulted in millions of dollars of fraudulently-induced Medicare payments.
Seeger Weiss represented the whistleblower, who brought the fraud to light and revealed the intentional sale of bogus medical devices. In 2017, Stimwave brought their “White Stylet” implantable electrode product to market claiming it would provide a non-opioid alternative to chronic pain management. Stimwave, which was led by then-CEO Perryman, designed, created, manufactured, and marketed the device even though it’s purported copper-based stylet receiver was made of plastic and served no medical purpose. The company sold the sham devices to doctors and medical providers, causing them to unintentionally overbill Medicare up to $18,000 for each implantation.
“We were privileged to help bring Stimwave to justice,” said Stephen A. Weiss of Seeger Weiss, who represented the relator in the case. “It was our client’s valor and selflessness which led to this important recovery and put Ms. Perryman within the government prosecutors’ crosshairs. At great personal and professional risk, our client took on a company that was bilking taxpayer healthcare programs and putting patients in physical peril. This is the fifth whistleblower case that Seeger Weiss has brought which resulted in criminal indictment, in addition to monetary recovery, and underscores our commitment to representing those individuals who witness illegal activity and choose to answer their call of duty for the good of society.”
One of the nation’s preeminent plaintiffs’ law firms, Seeger Weiss is best known for multidistrict mass torts and class actions in both state and federal court. From offices in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, the firm has represented over 10,000 individuals, organizations, and states and local municipalities across the U.S. that have been injured or defrauded on an individual or mass scale. The firm’s qui tam/whistleblower practice has represented relators in some of the nation’s largest and most notable recoveries under the federal and state false claims acts, with particular concentration in the areas of health care, tax and financial fraud.