This story uncovers the saga of a firm that made counterfeit spinal hardware used in surgeries nationwide. We started out looking at a lawsuit making broad and alarming claims about a fake hardware scam in Southern California. We decided to investigate the case on our own. We broke new ground, discovering that the hardware went far beyond California to a national network of doctors. We also found a company whistle blower who had begged the FDA to shut down the operation. Our reports uncover an operation that would be hard to believe if not for dozens of interviews and the review of hundreds of pages of documents. Our reporting led us to: – A South African spinal screw company owner who said he sent an auditor to repossess his firm’s products and found fakes mixed in with authentic screws – A patient who had spinal hardware from the company in question removed. We took photos of her hardware to the U.S. branch of the South Korean firm that made it. A manager there confirmed that the hardware was fake. – A company insider who described seeing sub-par hardware shipped across the U.S. and blowing the whistle to the FDA – A private plane pilot who detailed the lavish lifestyle of the company owner and gifts — including bundles of $100 bills — given out to doctors in the company’s network – A doctor who told us he earned hundreds of thousands in consulting fees and tickets to an NBA game from the company owner – A machinist who said the company approached him about making copies of spinal screws at his mom & pop machine shop
