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Page 115 of 254

November 5, 2018

The owner of WOW Imaging Products LLC and Time Enterprises LLC pled guilty to defrauding government agencies of approximately $3.5 million over the course of six years. Beginning in 2011, Jim A. Meron allegedly profited substantially from office products his companies sold to federal agencies through sales portals run by the General Services Administration (GSA) and Department of Defense (DoD). Although Meron’s government clients placed orders for premium products, he often sent products that cost a fraction of what they paid, pocketing the difference in price. In addition to forfeiting $1.7 million in assets, Meron now faces a maximum of 20 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines; his sentencing is scheduled for February 2019. USAO EDCA

Tagged in: Government Procurement Fraud, Pricing Fraud,

November 2, 2018

Metropolitan Retina Associates, Inc. and its owner, Dr. Kenneth S. Felder, have settled a False Claims Act investigation by agreeing to pay $2,064,559 for Medicare and Medicaid fraud. As part of the settlement, the New York-based ophthalmology practice admitted and accepted responsibility for submitting claims involving medically unnecessary and improperly documented fluorescein angiograms, as well as ultrasounds of the eye. USAO SDNY

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

November 2, 2018

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (NGSC), a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation, has agreed to pay a total of $31.65 million to settle False Claims Act-based civil and criminal allegations concerning fraudulent billing of the U.S. Air Force. NGSC allegedly overbilled for time that its Middle East-based employees spent working on the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) and Dynamic Re-tasking Capability (DRC) contracts. According to NGSC timesheets, employees were putting in exactly 12-13.5 hours a day, seven days a week, for multiple years. At one location alone, the overbilling resulted in a loss of more than $5 million. DOJ; USAO SDCA

Tagged in: Defense Contract Fraud, FCA Federal,

November 2, 2018

German shipping company MST Mineralien Schiffahrt Spedition und Transport GmbH was sentenced following its guilty plea related to deliberate pollution from one of its ships, the M/V Marguerita.  The company will pay a $3.2 million criminal fine for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and using falsified log books to conceal discharges of oily bilge waste in Portland, Maine. DOJ

Tagged in: Environmental Fraud, Ocean Dumping,

November 1, 2018

The CEO and COO of Smart Lab LLC have been sentenced to a cumulative 10 years in prison for defrauding TRICARE of millions of dollars. CEO H. Hamilton Wayne and COO Justin Morgan Wayne allegedly paid kickbacks to substance abuse treatment centers in exchange for using Smart Lab for expensive confirmatory urinalysis testing. In some cases, treatment center patients were required to submit three medically unnecessary samples a week, but exempt from paying co-payments, co-insurance, or deductibles that should've been mandatory. Altogether, they have been ordered to pay restitution amounting to $2,897,389.50. Separately, H. Wayne has been ordered to pay $104,344, and J. Wayne has been ordered to pay $20,000. A third defendant, Smart Lab sales representative Lanny Fried, remains to be sentenced later this month. USAO SDFL

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Healthcare Fraud, Other Government Health Programs,

October 31, 2018

A London-based doctor has been sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers. The doctor, Dr. Anis Chalhoub, was convicted in April of implanting over 200 medically unnecessary pacemakers in patients at St. Joseph London hospital, reportedly even pressuring patients and giving them misleading information so that they would agree to the procedures. He is ordered to pay $257,515 in restitution to Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers, as well as a $50,000 fine. USAO EDKY

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicaid, Medicare,

October 30, 2018

The owner of a Virginia-based nonprofit called JOBS Community Development Corporation has been convicted of defrauding the USDA's Summer Food Service Program. In order to obtain over $800,000 in federal funds, Shaun Brown allegedly falsified reimbursement claims and supporting documents to show grossly inflated numbers for meals served to low income children by her nonprofit. Furthermore, with federal funds, she allegedly ordered quantities of food that was so far in excess that she had to know it could never be used. Instead, her employees were directed to dump the food on a pig farm and behind buildings around town. For theft of government funds and other fraud charges, she faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. USAO EDVA

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings,

October 30, 2018

Four people connected to a Texas-based home health agency have been found guilty of fraudulently obtaining $3.7 million in reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid. Despite being previously banned from participating in any federal healthcare reimbursement programs, Celestine Okwilagwe and Paul Emordi co-owned and operated a Medicare and Medicaid provider in the Dallas area called Elder Care. Adetutu Etti, the provider's administrator, was recruited to falsely certify that someone else was the owner, and Okwilagwe's wife, Loveth Isidaehomen, was recruited to sign checks. Some of the claims that were eventually reimbursed by Medicare were also found to be for services that were not medically necessary. DOJ

Tagged in: Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Medicare,

October 30, 2018

Two men have been charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for attempting to bribe Haitian government officials in order to win approval for an $84 million development project. The project would've involved building multiple facilities around the port near Môle St. Nicolas, including cement factories, shipping-related stations, a power plant, and tourist centers. To win approval for the project, Roger Richard Boncy and Joseph Baptiste allegedly discussed bribing a high-level aide, and planned to funnel the bribes through a fake humanitarian nonprofit based in Maryland. DOJ; USAO MA

Tagged in: FCPA,

October 30, 2018

A Mississippi man has been sentenced to almost 20 years in prison for defrauding 320 investors in 14 states of more than $165.5 million dollars in what is being called the largest Ponzi scheme to come out of that state. From 2011 to 2018, Arthur Lamar Adams told investors that his company, Madison Timber Properties, LLC, bought and sold timber rights and that investments would go toward financing contracts with lumber mills. To further the scheme, he falsified timber deeds, forged signatures, and created fraudulent documents for investors. USAO SDMS

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Financial and Investment Fraud, Ponzi Schemes,

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