Biomet Pays to Settle Bribery Allegations

Biomet Pays to Settle Bribery Allegations
Tue, 03/27/2012 - 10:36am
by
Marcy Gordon

WASHINGTON (AP) - Medical device maker Biomet Inc. has agreed to pay $22.7 million to settle U.S. criminal and civil allegations that it bribed government-employed doctors in Argentina, Brazil, and China for more than eight years to win business with hospitals.

The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlements with Warsaw, Ind.-based Biomet. The company will pay a $17.3 million criminal penalty but won't be prosecuted by the Justice Department if it institutes strict internal controls to prevent bribery and hires an expert to monitor its compliance for 18 months. Biomet, which operates in about 90 countries, also agreed to pay $5.4 million in restitution to resolve the SEC's civil charges.

Biomet is the third medical device company to pay a criminal penalty and sign a deferred-prosecution agreement in the government's investigation into bribery by medical device makers of doctors employed by governments overseas.

That investigation continues, the government agencies said.

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