Missouri Surgeon and Kansas Medical Device Distributor Sentenced for Conspiring to Pay and Receive Kickbacks to Induce Use of Spinal Implants and Obstructing a Federal[...]

BOSTON - A Missouri surgeon and Kansas distributor have been sentenced for conspiring to pay and receive kickbacks aimed at inducing the use of spinal implants sold by SpineFrontier, Inc., as well as engaging in conduct aimed at obstructing the government's federal investigation into the kickback scheme.

Jason Montone, DO, 50, of Lawson, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to one year of supervised release and was ordered to pay forfeiture of $379,000 - the amount that he received in sham consulting fees from SpineFrontier. In October 2020, Montone pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback statute and one count of obstruction.

In August 2026, Montone's SpineFrontier distributor, John Balzer, 48, of Lenexa, Kan., was also sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to one year of supervised release and was ordered to pay forfeiture of $947,500 - the amount that he received in kickback-tainted commissions from SpineFrontier for products Montone used in his spine surgeries. In September 2020, Balzer pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback statute and one count of witness tampering.

Both Montone and Balzer cooperated with the government's investigation.

According to the charging documents, between late 2012 and October 2015, Balzer, Montone and their co-conspirators engaged in a scheme in which SpineFrontier and its CEO and CFO paid Montone a total of $379,000 pursuant to a sham consulting program that paid Montone $500 to $750 per hour for supposedly performing consulting services. Although SpineFrontier's physician-consulting program was purportedly directed at gathering technical feedback about its products from surgeons, the program and the kickbacks paid pursuant to that program were used to induce and reward Montone's decision to use the company's products.

To accomplish this, SpineFrontier, among other things, tracked Montone's sales volume and used the information to determine how much the company would pay Montone, regardless of how much consulting was actually performed. Montone and Balzer represented that Montone had spent hundreds of hours evaluating products, discussing industry trends and educating medical residents. In fact, Montone spent only a small fraction of his reported time performing consulting activities for the medical device company. SpineFrontier agreed to pay Montone 10% of the revenue it received on surgeries he performed using the company's products and pay Balzer a 25% commission on revenue generated by Montone's use of SpineFrontier products in his spine surgeries. Over the period of the time covered by the conspiracy, the company paid Balzer over $1.2 million in commissions for spine products Montone used.

In May 2025, SpineFrontier CEO Kingsley Chin pleaded guilty to making false statements to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. He was sentenced in August 2025 by Judge Talwani to one year of supervised release with the first six months to be served in home confinement. Chin was also ordered to pay a fine of $9,500 in addition to $40,000 he personally agreed to pay as part of a related civil settlement and $855,000 that his wholly-owned company agreed to pay as part of the same settlement with the United States.

In May 2026, CFO Aditya Humad pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback statute. He was sentenced in August 2026 by Judge Talwani to four months in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release and was ordered to pay a $9,500 fine, in addition to $150,000 he agreed to pay as part of a related civil settlement with the United States.

In other related civil enforcement, in March 2020, five doctors agreed to pay civil settlements to resolve allegations of accepting sham consulting fees from SpineFrontier in violation of the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute: Dr. F. Paul DeGenova agreed to pay $486,985; Dr. Michael Murray agreed to pay $330,668; Dr. Joseph Shehadi agreed to pay $323,419; Dr. Agha Khan agreed to pay $310,843; and Dr. John Atwater agreed to pay $105,149. In April 2020, Dr. John Carlson agreed to pay $1.75 million dollars to resolve the same allegations.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Office of the Inspector General; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Special Agent in Charge Christopher Algieri, Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, Northeast Field Office; and Justin Page, Acting Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Boston Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abraham R. George, Christopher R. Looney and Mackenzie A. Queenin prosecuted the case.