Former Employee Blew Whistle on Kickbacks, Unnecessary Tests
———-
ATLANTA (August 18, 2026) — A federal court ordered Oxy-Gen Laboratory, LLC and its owner to pay $315 million in damages, penalties, and legal fees for a fraudulent scheme in which Medicaid and Medicare patients were induced to take genetic tests for which they had no medical need.
The order, filed on July 30, came after Georgia-based Oxy-Gen and its owner, Jean Francois Toure, failed to mount any defense in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Oxy-Gen employee Joni Donnell, who will be entitled to a share of any money that is recovered by the U.S. government or the State of Georgia.
Oxy-Gen, of Norcross, Ga., has ceased operating and Toure has declared personal bankruptcy. Both were found liable by default by Judge Steve C. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Ms. Donnell was represented in the matter by The Employment Law Group® law firm, which is based in Washington, D.C., and by Moore Hall, LLC of Atlanta and Macon, Ga.
In her complaint, filed in 2020 under the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and other laws, Ms. Donnell described a scheme in which Oxy-Gen paid marketers and offered $50 gift cards directly to patients to secure cheek swabs for genetic testing, which it then billed to federal and state governments via the Medicare and Medicaid insurance programs. Many tests were ordered via telemedicine by doctors who had little or no interaction with the patients; some were ordered directly by Oxy-Gen without any involvement of a medical provider, according to the complaint.
Ms. Donnell repeatedly raised questions about Oxy-Gen’s practices, the complaint said, only to be ignored and even condescended to for her lack of a science degree. In court, her account was deemed to have been admitted by the same company that previously minimized her concerns.
The FCA, signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, makes it illegal to claim payment from the federal government via deception. The law includes a “qui tam” provision that allows whistleblowers to file a complaint on behalf of the U.S. and — if they prevail — to receive a portion of any resulting settlement or judgment.
Over a two-and-a-half-year period ending in 2020, Medicare and Medicaid paid almost $15 million for 18,909 genetic-testing claims submitted by Oxy-Gen, according to numbers provided to the court by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia and by the Office of the Georgia Attorney General — both of which continued working with Ms. Donnell after handing leadership of the case to her legal team in a “non-intervention” decision.
The huge resulting judgment is a result of the FCA’s unique structure, which calls for triple damages and, crucially, a hefty civil penalty for each individual false claim.
“Joni called out this brazen fraud and she got shut down by Oxy-Gen,” said Janel Quinn, a principal of The Employment Law Group. “So she looked to the law for justice — and now she has a court order that vindicates her honesty for all the world to see. It’s a victory she richly deserves.”
Ms. Quinn represented Ms. Donnell along with R. Scott Oswald, the firm’s managing principal, and Michael Moore and Aimee Hall of Moore Hall. The team cooperated closely with Neeli Ben-David, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and Sara E. Vann, Senior Assistant Attorney General of Georgia.
“This outcome shows the power of working hand-in-hand with prosecutors throughout the full pursuit of an FCA case,” said Mr. Moore, a former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. “We’re deeply grateful to the United States and the State of Georgia for helping us to establish the extent of Oxy-Gen’s wrongdoing here, and for supplying the claims data that supported this court order. The size of this judgment shows the power of the FCA when it is fully enforced — and it should strike fear into others who try to profit from fraud.”
———-
Case Information
U.S. ex rel. Donnell v. Oxy-Gen Laboratory, LLC
No. 1:20-cv-1583
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
Complaint filed under seal on April 13, 2020 (available here)
Order on default judgment filed on July 30, 2026 (available here)
———-
About The Employment Law Group
The Employment Law Group® law firm represents whistleblowers and employees who stand up to wrongdoing in the workplace. Based in Washington, D.C., the firm takes cases nationwide.
About Moore Hall
Moore Hall is a boutique litigation firm comprised of former government lawyers willing to take on the hardest cases in state and federal courts. With offices in Atlanta and Macon, Ga., the firm represents clients ranging from whistleblowers to victims of medical negligence.
