Health Diagnostic Laboratory is reported to be close to agreeing to a $47 million civil fine with federal authorities for paying doctors to use its testing services.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Richmond-based firm, long regarded as a shining example of entrepreneurial success in the city, was close to the agreement.

The settlement stems from a probe by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Justice Department into paying doctors up to $20 per test they ordered from HDL.

Such practices may have been behind HDL’s remarkably fast revenue growth.

In September, the Wall Street Journal published a front-page article about the federal probe. Soon afterward, company co-founder Tonya Mallory resigned. Joe McConnell, who co-founded the company with Mallory, is now at the helm as chief executive.

Since then, the firm has been shaking up its marketing strategies as well as laying people off. The firm told Style earlier this year that it is cooperating with federal investigators.

McConnell told Style in a written statement in January that HDL is “forging a future” in which it “will do more to help end cardiovascular disease and diabetes than any of us could have imagined just a few years ago.”