Cardiac devicemaker pays $2M settlement over corruption

Cardiac devicemaker AGA Medical has agreed to pay a $2 million criminal penalty and submit to three years of independent oversight by a external monitor to avoid federal prosecution on foreign corruption and bribery charges. A two-count indictment filed in 2005 had charged AGA officials with making corrupt payments to doctors at Chinese government-owned hospitals, who in turn got the hospitals to buy AGA's products. The charges also asserted that the company bribed officials at China's State Intellectual Property office to get its patents approved.

The settlement comes at the end of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that has been ongoing; when AGA determined that the investigation was in play, in 2005, they made a voluntary disclosure of their own internal investigatory findings to the DOJ. 

To learn more about the settlement:
- read this Modern Healthcare article (reg. req.)