Millennium is in bankruptcy protection, felled by a number of whistleblower lawsuits filed by former employees and doctors who claim the company’s growth was fueled by unnecessary tests and illegal kickbacks to physicians, as a Justice Department investigation concluded was the case, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Before last week’s bankruptcy filing, Slattery and minority owner TA Associates struck a deal with most of their bondholders to turn over ownership of the company and pay $325 million to settle the federal probe. In return, the owners get to walk away from any potential lawsuits tied to claims related to the federal probe. That plan is facing pushback in court, where at least one investor, Voya Investment Management Co., claims Millennium’s owners are getting off too lightly. The bankruptcy settlement is just a fraction of the cash the two owners took out of the company in the past three years as dividends, Sharon Levine, lawyer for Voya, said last week in bankruptcy court.
