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Millennium Laboratories And Its Downfall

Business Wire

In seven years, Millennium Lab became the largest drug-testing laboratory of its type in the country, taking advantage of both the outburst of pill medication and attempts to crack down on its abuse.

 

Millennium, which was founded in 2007 by James Slattery, was the subject of an investigation by The Palm Beach Post.

 

Investigative reporter Pat Beall of The Post told The Florida Roundup that “Millennium went to great lengths to position itself as the ethical leader in this dog-eat-dog industry. It funded a lot of things, for instance Florida’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Database, at a time when it looked like that was going to go under.”

The company would persuade and sometimes bribe doctors to administer multiple urine tests, according to The Post. Millennium billed Medicare more than $600 million for illicit urine tests.

By 2012, the Department of Justice was aware of the fraudulent activities Millennium Laboratories were responsible for, yet Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi still supported the company and the tests it was conducting.
 

Credit Steve Cannon / AP Photo
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AP Photo
Pam Bondi

She wrote a letter defending and supporting Millennium and its multiple examination procedures.

After The Palm Beach Post published the story, Bondi released a letter saying that staffers had written her previous letter. She wrote, “Knowing what I know now, The Palm Beach Post is correct that the letter should not have been sent.”

 

Milliennium paid $256 million to settle the false billing and kickback claims, according to the Department of Justice.

 

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