May 28, 2005
The Mayo Clinic has paid $6.5 million to settle allegations that it misspent millions of dollars in federal research grants over more than a decade.
The whistleblower suit was brought by a former accounting associate at the clinic, who will receive $1.3 million for her role in exposing the fraud. Her suit, filed under the federal False Claims Act, alleged that Mayo shifted millions of dollars away from federal research projects to cover other expenses.
The Mayo Clinic gets about $100 million a year in federal grants, mostly from the National Institutes of Health.
The Star Tribune reported on the settlement on May 27, 2005.