New York State and New York City recently entered into a settlement agreement with the federal government worth approximately $540 million. The settlement is the result of a qui tam lawsuit brought under the False Claims Act by Hedy Cirrincione, a speech therapist, who blew the whistle on a massive fraud involving claims by the State and City for Medicaid payments for speech therapy and other programs for disabled children. Ms. Cirrincione (eventually joined by the Department of Justice) alleged that many of those claims did not meet the requirements of the Medicaid program, and that in many cases claims were made for services that had never actually been rendered. The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.
