Stumbled onto a Medical Device fraud scheme. What now?

Throwaway, located in the USA.

The other day I was contacted by a recruiter who initially said he had a contract job available for someone with my background (international business with a specific regional/ industry focus). After discussing further, I learned that this was less a job, and more of an opportunity to be a middle man in a medical device fraud scheme, with a little bit of money laundering and tax evasion sprinkled in. In short, I would be the conduit between domestic buyers of unapproved medical devices and the foreign manufacturer, and would facilitate payment between the two in exchange for compensation.

Normally I’d just hit delete/ assume this is a scam, but upon more research on my contact and the company, they are a real foreign medical device manufacturer that has been subject to enforcement action from the FDA for the same product they want me to help move.

I don’t have a soft spot in my heart for medical fraud, and the set up of this scheme tells me a few things:

  1. There is a foreign medical device manufacturer trying to sell unapproved product in the US
  2. There are buyers for this product
  3. The buyers are probably getting reimbursed for services via insurance or govt programs (fraud and fraud)
  4. The payment scheme is aimed at dodging authorities (tax and tariff avoidance)
  5. Etc.

So who do I go to? I’m not going to respond to this outfit before going to a lawyer or authorities, but I’m not sure if I should reach out to the FDA enforcement division, DOJ, or another agency, or go to a whistleblower lawyer first. I’d be interested in playing along for law enforcement agencies. That said, I’m not interested in paying any legal fees to deal with this.

Thanks in advance!

Posted Dec 6, 2018, 1:32 AM UTC · edited

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