Archive

January 12, 2022

Idaho-based Native American Services Corp. (NASCO) and Texas-based Mirador Enterprises, Inc. (Mirador) have agreed to pay $750,000 and $400,000 respectively, for a combined settlement of $1.15 million, to resolve allegations of fraudulently obtaining two construction contracts at Colorado’s Fort Carson Army installation. According to the DOJ, one contract was set aside for eligible economically and socially disadvantaged small businesses, and the other was set aside for eligible small businesses. Although Mirador was eligible for both contracts, it allowed its mentor NASCO to take on the primary role in the performance of the contracts; both companies then took steps to conceal the fraud. USAO CO

Tagged in: Contract Non-Compliance, Defense Contract Fraud, FCA Federal, Government Procurement Fraud, Set-Asides and Preferences,

January 11, 2022

UC San Diego Health has agreed to pay $2.98 million to resolve allegations that it ordered and submitted referrals for medically unnecessary genetic testing, leading to the submission of false claims to Medicare. DOJ

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicare,

January 6, 2022

SoNo International LLC and Ark Capital Equipment LLC have agreed to pay $904,000 to resolve allegations of supplying the Department of Defense with shipping containers that were made in China or made of Chinese steel, in violation of contracts as well as the False Claims Act. As part of the settlement, the two companies will also submit to enhanced training and reporting requirements pursuant to an administrative agreement with the Defense Logistics Agency. An unnamed third-party company, which SoNo and Ark hired to change identifying plates on the shipping containers, has separately agreed to train employees on customs rules and regulations. USAO EDPA

Tagged in: Contract Non-Compliance, Defense Contract Fraud, FCA Federal, Government Procurement Fraud, Trade Agreements,

January 5, 2022

A Kansas-based contractor who illegally obtained $346 million in contracts set aside for service-disabled veterans and certified minorities has been sentenced to a little over two years in prison and ordered to forfeit over $5.5 million. Between 2009 and 2018, defendant Matthew McPherson was awarded approximately 199 federal contracts, upon which he was paid approximately $335 million, through Zieson Construction Company, which was nominally owned by an African-American service-disabled veteran. When the company grew too large to compete for small business contracts, McPherson used an employee’s Native American minority status to set up Simcon Corp in order to obtain additional contracts. USAO WDMO

Tagged in: Certifications, Criminal Proceedings, FCA Federal, Government Procurement Fraud, Set-Asides and Preferences,

December 23, 2021

Military housing provider Balfour Beatty Communities LLC will pay over $65 million and plead guilty to fraud charges arising from their scheme to secure incentive payments on contracts by submitting falsified information claiming to have met performance objectives when, in fact, they had not met those objectives. BBC employees altered or manipulated data in property management software regarding property maintenance and destroyed and falsified resident comment cards. The settlement agreement and plea agreement includes a $33.6 million criminal fine, over $31.8 million in restitution, and $35.2 million to resolve civil liability under the False Claims Act. BBC will be on probation for three years and be subject to independent compliance monitoring. DOJ; USAO SD GA; USAO WD OK

Tagged in: Contract Non-Compliance, Criminal Proceedings, Defense Contract Fraud, Falsifying Invoices, FCA Federal, Government Procurement Fraud,

December 21, 2021

Information technology contractor Telophase Corporation will pay $1.4 million to resolve allegations that it overcharged NASA under a cost-plus fixed-fee contract. The government alleged that Telophase submitted false claims for excessive labor hours and costs. USAO Md

Tagged in: Falsifying Invoices, FCA Federal, Government Procurement Fraud,

December 15, 2021

David Bellamah, and his business, Bellamah Vein & Surgery, PLLC, will pay $3.75 million to resolve allegations that they billed government healthcare programs for medically unnecessary venous procedures based on false medical records. Defendants allegedly used improper techniques to conduct and analyze ultrasounds and used false ultrasound findings to diagnoses and treat venous reflux disease and varicose veins. The government’s claims were initiated by the filing a qui tam complaint by Lenore Lezanne, who previously worked as a sonographer at the Bellamah Vein Center; Lezane will receive a whistleblower award of 17% of the amounts recovered. USAO MT

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medical Billing Fraud, Provider Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

December 14, 2021

Michigan-based Metna Co., a research and development firm which had contracts with the U.S. Army, has agreed to pay $500,000 to resolve claims that in improperly concealed its use of foreign nationals on Army Small Business Innovation Research contracts. The government alleged that Metna employed foreign graduate students on F-1 student visas, misrepresenting their work to their university and paying them substantially less than the hourly labor rate that Metna quoted to the Army in its contract budget proposals. USAO WD MI

Tagged in: Certifications, Defense Contract Fraud, FCA Federal, Government Procurement Fraud,

December 13, 2021

Kevin Cooper, M.D. and his practice, Cooper Family Medical Center, will pay $375,000 to resolve allegations that they fraudulently billed Medicare of non-reimbursable acupuncture devices by using billing codes for surgically implanted devices for the provision of P-Stim electro-acupuncture devices that are affixed behind a patient’s ear using an adhesive. USAO SD MI

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medical Billing Fraud, Provider Fraud, Upcoding,

December 8, 2021

The owner and medical director of Georgia’s Milton Hall Surgical Associates, Jeffrey M. Gallups, will pay $3 million, and medical device manufacturer Entellus Medical will pay $1.2 million, to resolve claims that they entered into an unlawful kickback arrangement. The government alleged that Gallups received cash payments and all-expense paid trips from Entellus in return for directing MHSA physicians to utilize sinuplasty related medical devices exclusively from Entellus and increase the number of sinuplasty procedures performed. In addition, Gallups was alleged to have received “commissions” from medical testing laboratory NextHealth, in exchange for directing MHSA doctors to order medically unnecessary toxicology and genetic tests from NextHealth. The settlement resolves a qui tam action initiated by former MHSA physician Myron Jones, M.D., who will receive approximately $614,000 from the settlement. USAO ND GA

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medical Devices and DME, Provider Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

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