Peter Rentrop, MD, reached an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit.
As part of the settlement, Dr. Rentrop will pay $6.5 million, relinquish ownership of his New York City cardiology practice and be prohibited from receiving payments from federal healthcare programs, according to a Sept. 18 news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
From 2010 to 2021, Dr. Rentrop and his practice, Gramercy Cardiac, entered into inflated office space rental agreements with other physicians to have them refer their patients to Gramercy Cardiac, providing kickbacks to the physicians in exchange for the referrals.
Gramercy Cardiac — of which Dr. Rentrop is the founder, owner and president — previously had four offices in New York City.
Dr. Rentrop and Gramercy Cardiac will pay $4,510,678 to the U.S. and pay $1,989,362 to the state of New York under the agreement, the release said.