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# Life Spine, 2 Execs, Settle Kickback Case
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/life-spine-2-execs-settle-kickback-case/
- Published: 2019-11-08T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T15:52:30.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Devices, #legacy-id-D5145467

A New York federal judge has approved a settlement between the Justice Department and Life Spine Inc., and two of its executives, resolving a whistleblower’s allegations that they paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to surgeons to induce them to use the company’s spinal implants, devices, and equipment. In the settlement, according to a department [statement](https://click.connect.hhs.gov/?qs=fc699d08327942dd4813b6cf2ad7ca6fc83cca701a2e59938a01efb0580cb234b3047ba7fcf8fa81b63cba5fe91effb6cd3a02b538b48b0c&ref=fdaweb.com), Spine agreed to pay $5.5 million, company CEO **Michael Butler** agreed to pay $375,000, and company vice president **Richard Greiber** agreed to pay $115,000.

The government says the surgeons who received the kickbacks accounted for about half of Life Spine’s domestic sales of spinal products from 2012 through 2018.

The statement says that in connection with filing of the lawsuit and settlement, the government intervened in a sealed private whistleblower lawsuit that had been filed under the False Claims Act.