Bharara also called Novartis "a repeat offender, having settled healthcare fraud charges based on kickbacks less than three years ago." In 2010, Novartis paid more than $400 million in connection with a federal case into the marketing of its epilepsy drug Trileptal, and admitted it paid kickbacks to doctors to prescribe that drug and five others. In that case, it pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count in federal court in Philadelphia to resolve civil allegations over promoting Trileptal for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. In the current litigation, Bharara's office is seeking civil penalties under the False Claims Act and treble damages, or triple the amount of actual damages. Alexi Friedman contributed to this report.