$140M health care fraud retrial

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit ruled that a federal court in Texas properly declined to bar retrial, as requested by a man accused of defrauding health care programs out of more than $140 million through fraudulent pharmaceutical claims. After the fifth week of trial, prosecutors disclosed evidence favorable to the defense, and ultimately a mistrial was declared because curative instructions would place too much of a burden on the jury. The court properly declared a mistrial due to “manifest necessity.”