Archive

November 23, 2016

Bechtel National Inc., Bechtel Corp., URS Corp. (predecessor in interest to AECOM Global II LLC) and URS Energy and Construction Inc. (now known as AECOM Energy and Construction Inc.) agreed to pay $125 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by charging the Department of Energy for deficient nuclear quality materials, services, and testing that was provided at the Waste Treatment Plant at DOE’s Hanford Site near Richland, Washington.  The settlement also resolves allegations that Bechtel improperly used federal contract funds to pay for a comprehensive, multi-year lobbying campaign of Congress and other federal officials for continued funding at the site.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Gary Brunson, Donna Busche, and Walter Tamosaitis, who worked on the Hanford project.  They will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ

November 23, 2016

Georgia pain management physician Dr. Anthony Clavo agreed to the entry of a consent judgment for $430,000 to resolve allegations he violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for medically unnecessary services.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Herretta Pickens and Teresa Williams, former employees of Dr. Clavo, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  They will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (NDGA)

November 15, 2016

New Jersey-based remote cardiac monitoring company MedNet Inc., and a subsidiary of BioTelemetry Inc., agreed to pay more than $1.35 million to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks to induce physicians to use the company’s cardiac monitoring services.  According to the government, from March 2006 through January 2014, before BioTelemetry acquired MedNet, MedNet entered into “fee-for-service” or “direct-bill” agreements with certain hospital and physician clinic customers which allowed them to bill Medicare directly for these same services and retain the reimbursements they received which exceeded the fees that MedNet charged them.  The government alleged that the remuneration MedNet provided in connection with the agreements was illegal remuneration under the Anti-Kickback Statute.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  DOJ (DNJ)

November 15, 2016

Florida pharmacies Lemon Bay Drugs North, Inc. and Brooksville Drugs, Inc. agreed to pay a total of $750,000 to resolve allegations that the pharmacies violated the False Claims Act by causing claims to be submitted to federal health care programs for prescription drugs that were never dispensed.  According to the government, the pharmacies provided Medicare and Medicaid patients generic versions of certain medications, but charged Medicare and Medicaid for the brand name versions of those medications.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by a former pharmacy technician who worked at Lemon Bay Drugs.  She will receive a whistleblower award of $142,500 from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (MDFL)

December 14, 2016

Florida announced a million dollar settlement reached with an obstetrician and gynecologist in Ocala. Dr. Rasiklal Dhanji Nagda is a Medicaid provider and owner of Nagda Medical, Inc. According to Attorney General Bondi’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s investigation, Nagda submitted more than 700 claims to Medicaid for intrauterine devices not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and received reimbursements from the Medicaid program. Nagda allegedly used a credit card to order large quantities of Bayer’s Mirena IUDs from an online pharmacy, GetCanadianDrugs.com, on a monthly basis. FL

November 16, 2016

New York announced that Zwanger & Pesiri Radiology Group, LLP, Zwanger Radiology P.C. and Dr. Steven Mendelson (collectively, “Zwanger”) will pay $8,153,727 to resolve allegations that the defendants knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid. The settlement resolved allegations that from January 1, 2003 through October 26, 2015, Zwanger submitted claims for services provided or supervised by physicians, or at a Zwanger location, that were not enrolled in Medicare and/or Medicaid and therefore ineligible for payment. Zwanger falsely claimed that Dr. Mendelson, who was a Medicare and Medicaid enrolled provider, had in fact performed the procedures. The settlement also resolved allegations that from January 1, 2008 through February 28, 2014, Zwanger submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for certain radiology procedures that were not ordered by a treating physician. These procedures included the automatic performance of certain types of x-rays, and the automatic performance of ultrasounds in female patients, even these both procedures were not ordered by a treating physician. NY

November 7, 2016

Pennsylvania-based medical device manufacturer Biocompatibles Inc., a subsidiary of British-based BTG plc, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $36 million for violating the False Claims Act and Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by misbranding its embolic device LC Bead, which is used to treat liver cancer, among other diseases, and by marketing and selling the product for uses not approved by the FDA.  The matter originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Ryan Bliss who oversaw Bicompatibles’ North American marketing.  He will receive a whistleblower award of approximately $5.1 million from the proceeds of the government’s False Claims Act recovery.  Whistleblower Insider

November 4, 2016

California-based aerospace parts company Air Industries Corporation agreed to pay $2.7 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by falsely certifying it had performed required inspections on aerospace parts used in military aircraft, spacecraft and missiles used by the Department of Defense.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by an AIC employee.  The employee will receive a whistleblower award of $621,000 from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (CDCA)

November 1, 2016

The City of Fairfield, California and the Fairfield Housing Authority paid $680,000 to settle False Claims Act allegations that they received grants to fund two coordinator positions for a federal housing program but did not use the funds for that purpose.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by a former FHA employee.  The whistleblower will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $129,000 from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (EDCA)

October 31, 2016

Tariq Mahmood, former owner and operator of several rural hospitals across Texas, was ordered to pay roughly $1.2 million for violating the False Claims Act following his conviction for committing health care fraud and for aggravated identity theft.  DOJ (EDTX)