From at least 1998 to 2006, DePuy and DePuy International paid bribes to public doctors in Greece who selected Johnson & Johnson surgical implants for use in various medical procedures. The scheme was perpetrated via a complicated web of transactions through distributors and agents (including a Greek distributor which DePuy International later acquired) who paid bribes recorded as commissions. The scheme was furthered by a high-level executive. In total, DePuy and its subsidiaries and employees authorized approximately $16.4 million in payments, a significant portion of which they knew would be used to pay cash incentives to publicly-employed Greek healthcare providers to induce them to purchase DePuy products.
In addition, from 2000 to 2006, Johnson & Johnson’s Polish subsidiary made improper payments and provided things of value, including travel sponsorships, to publicly-employed doctors and hospital administrators in Poland to induce them to use Johnson & Johnson medical devices and award medical device tenders.
From 2005 to 2008, a Romanian Johnson & Johnson subsidiary also authorized approximately $140,000 in cash and travel payments to publicly-employed doctors and pharmacists in Romania to induce them to prescribe Johnson & Johnson products.
Between February 2001 and June 2004, two other Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries, Cilag AG International and Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., paid 10% kickbacks, totaling approximately $857,387, to the former government of Iraq under the U.N. Oil for Food Program to secure contracts to provide humanitarian supplies worth $9.9 million.
