From at least 1998 to 2006, DePuy International, through a Greek distributor which it later acquired, allegedly paid bribes to public doctors in Greece who selected DePuy’s surgical implants. The scheme featured a complicated web of transactions involving distributors and agents paid through commissions overseas and allegedly resulted in $24,258,072 in profit.
In Poland, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, MD&D Poland, allegedly made improper payments to publicly employed doctors and hospital administrators in Poland to use their medical devices and award them medical device tenders from 2000 to 2006. This scheme was carried out through sham civil contracts and false travel invoices and resulted in approximately $4,348,000 in profit for the company. The SEC further alleged that, from 2000 to 2007, employees of Johnson & Johnson’s Romanian subsidiary, Pharma Romania, made improper payments to publicly employed doctors and pharmacists in Romania to prescribe Johnson & Johnson products through cash and travel payments. Pharma Romania used local distributors to generate the cash that was ultimately paid to the doctors in exchange for the doctors prescribing Johnson & Johnson products. The purported profit to Johnson & Johnson from these sales was $3,515,500.
Finally, two other Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries in Europe – Cilag AG International and Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. – were accused of paying a Lebanese agent an inflated commission that included a 10% kickback to the former government of Iraq for participation in the U.N. Oil for Food Program. The stated reason for the high commission to the Lebanese agent was “promotional activities,” yet that agent was unable to provide detailed evidence or description of any of those activities. There are allegations of $857,387 in kickbacks in connection with nineteen U.N. Oil for Food contracts. The total profit on those contracts is alleged to be $6,106,255.
