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Top Ten Non-Healthcare False Claims Act Recoveries for 2023

Posted  01/30/24
People Pointing to Contracts Making Decision
It was another big year for DOJ enforcement under the False Claims Act, the government's primary fraud-fighting tool.  As usual, most of the recoveries were in the healthcare space with seven of the Top Ten recoveries involving various schemes to defraud Medicare and Medicaid.  See our Top Ten FCA and Top Ten Healthcare FCA listings. While healthcare recoveries dominated the Top Ten, two of the top five...

Catch of the Week: King Kong Tools

Posted  11/30/23
Typewriter with Made in China Letters Typed Out
This week's Department of Justice (DOJ) Catch of the Week goes to King Kong Tools GmbH & Co KG.  On  Wednesday (November 29), the German-based supplier of recycling, forestry, construction, and agricultural equipment, along with its American subsidiary, agreed to pay $1.9 million to settle DOJ charges of violating the False Claims Act through customs fraud.  More specifically, the government alleged King Kong...

Catch of the Week: AECOM

Posted  10/30/23
Flooded Traffic Light Sign
Last week's Department of Justice (DOJ) Catch of the Week goes to Dallas-based architecture and engineering firm AECOM.  Last Tuesday (October 24), the company agreed to pay $11.8 million to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act by improperly billing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for disaster assistance funding in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster...

Donor and Legacy Admissions Policies at Undergraduate Institutions Face Scrutiny

Posted  08/2/23
The U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (DOE-OCR) has opened an investigation of Harvard College’s undergraduate donor and legacy admissions practices for discrimination based on race, under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program that receives federal financial assistance from DOE, and Harvard is a...

Thomas Jefferson University Pays $2.7 Million to Settle Student Loan Fraud Allegations

Posted  07/28/23
Thomas Jefferson University has agreed to pay $2.7 million to settle allegations concerning the misuse and improper retention of "primary care" student financial aid loans. Education fraud encompasses traditional financial aid programs as well as specialty loan programs like the Primary Care Loan program at issue here. Congress established the Primary Care Loan program to address the nation’s shortage of primary...

Expanded Connecticut State False Claims Act is Win for Whistleblowers

Posted  07/7/23
Front View of Hartford Connecticut Capitol Building
Whistleblowers take note: the Connecticut State False Claims Act (CT FCA) has been significantly expanded beyond healthcare fraud claims. Historically, the CT FCA was limited to fraud on Medicaid and other programs within health and human services. The amended statute now reaches fraud across a variety of sectors, such as government contracting, education, employment, immigration, housing, mortgage and insurance...

Top Ten Federal Financial and Healthcare Fraud Prison Sentences of 2022

Posted  02/2/23
Financial and healthcare fraud often can carry stiff monetary penalties for entities facing government enforcement, as shown on our other Top Ten Lists. Whistleblowers reporting wrongful conduct under one of the federal whistleblower reward laws sometimes find that criminal authorities are as interested in their allegations as civil enforcement agencies and authorities. Fraud can also result in criminal charges and...

Top Ten Financial and Healthcare Fraud Prison Sentences of 2021

Posted  01/28/22
handcuff and money
Individuals involved in financial and healthcare fraud schemes face not just civil liability, but also criminal penalties – including prison time. In 2021, the Department of Justice obtained substantial prison sentences in a myriad of cases involving healthcare and financial frauds, many of which involved convictions of the type of fraudulent schemes that whistleblowers report. Whistleblowers play an essential role...

Catch of the Week: Archdiocese of New Orleans pays $1 million to Resolve Katrina-Related Allegations, Highlighting Importance of Enforcement in Disaster Recovery Fraud

Posted  11/19/21
New Orleans Jackson Square
We’ve covered this before: natural disasters and fraud against the government often go hand in hand. The government, through agencies and programs such the FEMA and the federally-backed flood and crop insurance programs, can distribute enormous sums of money very quickly in the wake of hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and the like. Distributing lots of money quickly after natural disasters gets immediate help to...

Catch of the Week – Sour Grapes: Fruit-Broker Squashed for Role in Defrauding Federal Crop Insurance

Posted  08/13/21
Grapes
The manager of a California fruit broker learned the hard way that it doesn’t pay to assist in defrauding the Federal Crop Insurance Program.  The manager, at the behest of a grape farmer who sold crops through the broker, altered the farmer’s records to reflect lower-than-actual sales.  The falsified records assisted the farmer to claim crop-losses falsely and receive insurance-reimbursements funded by the...
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