The 2010 deferred prosecution agreement

analysisOn December 7, 2010 the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced that Exactech, Inc. had entered a deferred prosecution agreement with a federal monitor. A criminal complaint charged the company with conspiring to violate the federal anti-kickback statute, alleging that from 2002 through late 2008 it entered consulting agreements with orthopaedic surgeons designed in part to induce them to use its hip and knee products. The complaint was to be dismissed after 12 months if Exactech met the agreement's requirements; the retained records do not show that step. Under the agreement Exactech undertook further remediation and to acknowledge responsibility for its behaviour, and the prosecutors acknowledged that neither the agreement nor the complaint alleged that its conduct adversely affected patient health or care. A certified board resolution authorised outside counsel from Greenberg Traurig to sign it. ^{1 2}

analysisAlongside it Exactech agreed to pay $2.99 million to settle civil False Claims Act claims with the Department of Justice and HHS's Office of Inspector General that its marketing practices had caused false claims to Medicare, and entered a five-year corporate integrity agreement. The company's then director of sales for its Northeast region pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the anti-kickback statute. ¹

analysisThe Settlement Trust's 2026 complaint alleges that similar consulting arrangements continued after the agreement expired and that from 2017 to 2023 Exactech paid physicians nearly $60 million, including more than $16 million in consulting fees. These are allegations in a pending case; no ruling on them is in the retained record. ¹