A whistleblower’s lawsuit reportedly is the catalyst behind the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) investigation at Siemens Healthcare’s Malvern, PA, headquarters this week.
The Philadelphia Business Journal reported on April 23 that the civil suit was filed by Siemens’ employee William A. Thomas under the False Claims Act in U.S. District Court of the Virgin Islands in 2004 and was amended in January 2009.

The lawsuit alleges that Siemens gave its corporate imaging customers larger discounts than the federal government, while telling the government that it was receiving Siemens’ best pricing.

Investigators from the DoD’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) arrived at the company’s Malvern offices on the morning of April 22 to execute a search warrant, according to Ed Bradley, special agent in charge with the agency’s northeast field office in Philadelphia, in comments to AuntMinnie.com.

Siemens Healthcare director of public relations Lance Longwell confirmed that DCIS investigators conducted a “limited search” of one floor of the Malvern building. Siemens asked employees who work near the search area to leave for the remainder of the day and to return tomorrow for a regular workday, Longwell said.