Source: US FBI
BOSTON – The Founder, President and CEO of SpineFrontier, Inc. was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for making false statements to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Dr. Kingsley R. Chin, 61, the Founder, President and CEO of SpineFrontier, Inc., a Massachusetts-based medical device company, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to one year of supervised release with the first six months to be served in home confinement. The defendant was also ordered to pay a fine of $9,500, in addition to $40,000 the defendant personally agreed to pay as part of a related civil settlement, and $855,000 his wholly-owned company, KICVentures, agreed to pay as part of the same settlement. In May 2025, Chin pleaded guilty to one count of false statements.
Pursuant to the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, device manufacturers, like SpineFrontier, are required to report any payments or transfers of value to physicians, including spine surgeons. CMS maintains a database, via the Open Payments website, which makes all such payments or transfers of value publicly accessible.
SpineFrontier offered surgeons the opportunity to engage in purported consulting on product development. Specifically, Chin directed his employees to report the payment of fees paid to a surgeon as consulting fees that were not compensation for actual consulting work. Chin caused his employees to report a payment of $4,750 on Jan. 19, 2016, to the surgeon as a “consulting” payment, even though Chin knew that the surgeon had not performed actual consulting work for the payment. He also knew that he and SpineFrontier were required to accurately report any payments or transfers of value to the surgeon.
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; Christopher Algieri, Special Agent in Charge of the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, Northeast Field Office; and Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abraham R. George, Christopher R. Looney and Mackenzie A. Queenin prosecuted the case.