by Ben Vernia | November 2nd, 2014
The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, on October 30, announced that a former Northwestern University cancer researcher had agreed to pay $475,000 to settle civil claims, originally brought by a former university employee, that the doctor submitted false claims under federally sponsored research grants. According to the U.S. Attorney’s press release:
A former cancer research physician at Northwestern University’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Center for Cancer in Chicago will pay the United States $475,000 to settle claims of federal research grant fraud. Dr. Charles L. Bennett agreed to the settlement in a federal False Claims Act lawsuit that was first made public last year after the government investigated the claims made by a former employee and whistleblower who will receive a portion of the settlement.
In July 2013, Northwestern University agreed to pay the United States $2.93 million to settle identical claims against the university. Northwestern, which fully cooperated during the investigation, did not admit liability as part of the settlement.
In a settlement agreement filed today in U.S. District Court, Dr. Bennett, of Columbia, S. Car., also did not admit liability, nor did the government concede that its claims were not well-founded.
In a lawsuit filed in January this year, the government contended that Dr. Bennett submitted false claims under research grants from the National Institutes of Health. The settlement covers improper claims that Dr. Bennett submitted for reimbursement from the federal grants for professional and consulting services, food, hotels, travel, conference registration fees, and other expenses that benefited Dr. Bennett, his friends, and family from Jan. 1, 2003, through Aug. 31, 2010.
The U.S. Attorney announced that the whistleblower will receive $80,750 (a 17% relator’s share).
