Attorney General Ellison helps secure $200M from Gilead for paying illegal kickbacks

Minnesota will receive $256K from multistate settlement in principle

July 16, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today joined coalition of 49 attorneys general in securing $202 million from Gilead Sciences, Inc. for running an illegal kickback scheme to promote its HIV medications. Gilead violated federal law by illegally providing incentives — including awards, meals, and travel expenses — to health care providers to prescribe Gilead’s medications, resulting in millions of dollars of false claims submitted to government health care programs, including New York’s Medicaid program. The settlement in principle, reached in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice and approved by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, provides $49 million for Medicaid programs nationwide. Minnesota’s share of the settlement is $532,000, of which $256,000 will be returned to the State of Minnesota.

“When people wonder why they’re struggling to afford the cost of the prescription drugs they need to live healthy lives or just to live, illegal kickbacks are one reason why,” Attorney General Ellison said. “At a time when the Trump regime has yanked low-income Americans’ Medicaid out from underneath them, it outrages me even more to know that Gilead abused Medicaid to submit false claims and line its own pockets. Big Pharma should take it as a warning that attorneys general are on the alert for illegal and abusive practices and will not hesitate to hold them accountable.

From January 2011 to November 2017, Gilead violated federal anti-kickback laws by providing gifts to health care providers who attended and spoke at promotional speaker programs for Gilead’s HIV drugs: Stribild, Genvoya, Complera, Odefsey, Descovy, and Biktarvy. Gilead paid high-volume prescribers tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to present as “HIV Speakers.” The company also covered travel expenses for speakers, including those traveling long distances and to attractive destinations, such as Hawaii, Miami, and New Orleans, and hosted dinners at high-end restaurants.

Gilead’s internal compliance mechanisms failed to halt these violations. The company maintained policies and procedures that failed to prevent its sales representatives from improperly offering incentives to induce prescriptions.

Joining Attorney General Ellison in securing settlements with Gilead are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Attorney General Ellison’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit works to uncover, investigate, and prosecute individuals or organizations that steal from Medicaid and that exploit, neglect, or abuse vulnerable victims. The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit receives 75% of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $4,409,872 for Federal fiscal year (FY)2025. The remaining 25%, totaling $1,469,955 for FY 2025, is funded by the State of Minnesota.