CEO of Spine Device Company Pleads Guilty to False Statements in Connection with Mandatory Reporting to CMS

BOSTON – The CEO of SpineFrontier, Inc. has pleaded guilty to making false statements to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Dr. Kingsley R. Chin, the Founder, President and CEO of SpineFrontier, Inc., a Massachusetts-based medical device company, pleaded guilty on May 15, 2025, to one count of false statements to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Open Payments Program. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for Aug. 6, 2025.

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.  

According to the charging documents, 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.

The charge of making false statements provides for a sentence of up to five years, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.  

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; Kimberly Milka, Acting 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 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 are prosecuting the case.