Federal Case Against SpineFrontier CEO Dismissed

Federal prosecutors have dropped all criminal charges against SpineFrontier Founder/CEO Dr. Kingsley R. Chin and his medical device companies, ending a nearly decade-long investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The case began in 2016 after three former employees, acting as whistleblowers under the False Claims Act, triggered a civil inquiry into Dr. Chin and Malden, Mass.-based SpineFrontier Inc. That civil matter was fully resolved in November 2023.

In 2020, the DOJ initiated a separate criminal investigation, accusing Dr. Chin and other executives paid kickbacks to spine surgeons to use SpineFrontier surgical devices in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. According to the DOJ complaint, the defendants paid spine surgeons more than $8 million in sham “consulting” payments ostensibly for product evaluations, when the payments were really for the use of SpineFrontier devices. 

The DOJ had accused Dr. Chin and other defendants of using a purported consulting company—Impartial Medical Experts LLC (IME)—as an intermediary to funnel kickbacks to spine surgeons from October 2013 through December 2018. U.S. prosecutors claimed the defendants created IME to shield themselves and spine surgeons from government scrutiny by creating a false impression that surgeons were consulting through an independent third-party entity. The defendants generally paid “consulting” spine surgeons $500 for a cervical procedure, and $1,000 for a lumbar procedure—but only if the surgeon used SpineFrontier devices, the DOJ charged.

In early 2025, charges against SpineFrontier were formally dismissed. By May 2025, the DOJ moved to dismiss all remaining charges against Dr. Chin.

“All of the charges in the indictment and superseding indictment against Dr. Chin have been or are going to be dismissed, as the case resolved for a lesser charge,” Dr. Chin’s legal counsel stated in a recent interview.

About two weeks ago, Dr. Chin admitted making false statements to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments Program. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 6, and faces a maximum five-year prison term, up to three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

Pursuant to the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, device manufacturers like Chin’s company (SpineFrontier) are required to report any payments or transfers of value to physicians, including spine surgeons. CMS maintains a database, through 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 consult on product development. Specifically, Chin directed his employees to report fees paid to a surgeon as consulting fees that were not compensation for actual consulting work. Chin caused his employees to report a $4,750 payment on Jan. 19, 2016, to the surgeon as a “consulting” payment, despite Chin knowing that the surgeon had not performed actual consulting work for the payment, federal prosecutors contend. He also knew that he and SpineFrontier were required to accurately report any payments or transfers of value to the surgeon.

Dr. Chin is a Harvard-trained professor and board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon and a graduate of Harvard Business School. He is widely recognized for pioneering Less Exposure Spine Surgery (LESS), a philosophy that advances outpatient spine care and empowers physician-led medical innovation.

Founded in 2006, SpineFrontier was built on a foundation of collaboration and innovation. Along with its strategic advisory board of spine surgeons, the company developed a portfolio of LESS technologies to improve patient outcomes and simplify procedures for outpatient spine surgery.

Founded in 2013 as the venture arm of Kingsley Investment Company (KIC) LLC, KIC Ventures focuses exclusively on advancing outpatient spine surgery through its LESS philosophy. With a lineup of spine technologies and a commitment to empowering physicians, KIC Ventures has become the world’s largest private equity firm with a majority-owned portfolio of differentiated spine companies focused on outpatient spine solutions.