New Lawsuit Alleges Celgene Schemed Charities 'To Gain Billions' Of Dollars

According to a report by Bloomberg, Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) is the target of a lawsuit in which the company is alleged to have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to various charities, as "part of a core business scheme to gain billions" of dollars from taxpayers.

The allegations come from a former Celgene sales representative, Beverly Brown. She claims Celgene would coordinate with the charities in question to ensure that its medicines were covered. By doing so, the company may have violated federal law, as it would collect billions of dollars from Medicare and other health plans.

A Celgene spokesman, Brian Gill, told Bloomberg in an e-mail the allegations are both "wrong" and "baseless." He added that the company followed all necessary federal rules and regulations in its charitable donations.

Bloomberg also cited Celgene's legal filings, which state the company is active in charities ,because a core value it shares is to "ensure that cancer patients have access to medicines they need.

Celgene's lawyers also stated that criticism directed toward the company is merely a "classic example of no good deed shall go unpunished."

Shares of Celgene were trading lower by nearly 1 percent at $111.28 ahead of Monday's stock market open, but within the first hour of regular trading, shares were up 2.01 percent at $114.44.

Do you have ideas for articles/interviews you'd like to see more of on Benzinga? Please email feedback@benzinga.com with your best article ideas. One person will be randomly selected to win a $20 Amazon gift card!