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The civil settlement resolves claims brought under the qui tam provisions of the
False Claims Act by Ronald Ekstrand against Wellpoint Health Networks, Inc., the
entity into which RightCHOICE merged in January 2002. Mr. Ekstrand will receive
$165,750 of the total recovery as his statutory award for his suit filed in the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Under the qui tam provisions of
the False Claims Act, private individuals can bring whistleblower actions for fraud
on behalf of the United States and collect a share of any proceeds recovered by the
suit as well as attorney fees.
"This civil health care fraud settlement should send a signal to all health care
providers who receive federal funds that we are committed to protecting the health
care system from fraud or abuse," said Catherine L. Hanaway, U.S. Attorney for the
Eastern District of Missouri..
The case was handled by the Civil Division of the Department of Justice and the
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. The case was
investigated by the St. Louis offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the
Office of Personnel Management-Office of the Inspector General.
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07-062