A recent report by the Federal Elections Commission has come out putting the cost of the recent election cycle at more than $7 billion. That’s a lot of money. Enough that the folks over at Newsy put together the little video clip (above) about it.
But $7 billion ironically pops up in another tally for 2012—the top 10 whistleblower settlements for the year add up to more than $7.5 billion. It’s a staggering amount—not only for an election, but also for whistleblower cases as, think about it, it only represents the tip of the iceberg.
If you’re wondering what those whistleblower settlements were, here’s the list:
1. GlaxoSmithKine – $3 billion
Reason: Illegally marketing some of its prescription drugs such as Paxil, Avandia, Advair, Wellbutrin, Zofran, Imitrex, Lamictal, Lotronex, Floven and Valtrex.
2. Abbott Laboratories – $1.5 billion
Reason: Abbott’s off-label marketing of Depakote.
3. Bank of America – $1 billion
Reason: Mortgage and bank fraud.
4. Merck – $950 million
Reason: Marketing Vioxx illegally
5. Pfizer – $491 million
Reason: Kickbacks and using off-label marketing for organ transplant rejection drug, Rapamune
6. Senior Care Action Network – $323 million
Reason: California Medicaid and HMO cost reporting fraud.
7. Actavis – $202 million
Reason: to settle numerous claims that the company reported inflated prices of its drugs, causing the US and four state governments to overpay.
8. Deutsche Bank – $202 million
Reason: False certification for HUD/FHA loans
9. Oracle – $199 million
Reason: Failure to provide discount pricing
10. McKesson – $190 million
Reason: Accusations that the company inflated prices of numerous prescription drugs, resulting in Medicaid overpaying for those drugs.