Masimo (NSDQ:MASI) said yesterday that federal prosecutors in California this week issued a subpoena over some of its patient monitoring devices.
The subpoena, from the office of the U.S. attorney for central California, André Birotte Jr., "requests documents related to our Pronto and Pronto-7 products. Certain of the company’s current and former employees also received subpoenas," Masimo said in a regulatory filing.
"The government has indicated that it expects to issue additional subpoenas as the investigation proceeds. The company is fully cooperating with the investigation," Masimo said.
The Pronto and Pronto-7 devices, which are designed to measure total hemoglobin, oxygen saturation in the blood, pulse rate and perfusion index, were the subject of a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Masimo sales reps in 2010.
Last October a federal judge tossed the False Claims Act case, ruling that the sales reps failed to provide any evidence of fraud or fraudulent intent. The same judge last month overturned a $5 million arbitration award given to 2 of the sales reps, finding that the arbitrator was biased against Masimo because of his brother’s work as a lawyer for patient monitoring rival Covidien (NYSE:COV).
Last week Masimo reversed the $8 million charge it had set aside to cover the arbitration award and a payment to its insurance carrier. The sales reps have appealed the dismissal of their whistleblower case.