Government Enforcement Actions

September 10, 2015

Tennessee-based non-profit hospice care provider Alive Hospice, Inc.paid roughly $1.5 million to reimburse the government for alleged violations of the False Claims Act through overbilling of Medicare and TennCare for hospice services.  According to the government, Alive submitted claims to Medicare and TennCare for general inpatient hospice care for patients who did not qualify for that care.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Linda Anderson, a triage nurse who previously worked for Alive, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. She will receive a whistleblower award of $263,197. Whistleblower Insider

September 4, 2015

Rick Brown, former president of Home Care America Inc., which managed the daily business operations of Medicall Physicians Group Ltd., was sentenced to 87 months in prison and to pay $1.3  million in restitution for his role in a $4 million health care fraud scheme.  Medicall is a physician practice that visited patients in their homes and prescribed home health care.  The evidence at trial showed that Brown and his co-conspirators routinely billed Medicare for overseeing patient care plans when in fact the doctors at Medicall rarely did so.  The evidence also showed that Brown and his co-conspirators billed Medicare for services never provided, including services rendered to patients who were deceased, services purportedly provided by medical professionals no longer employed by Medicall, and services purportedly provided by medical professionals who, based on billing records, worked over 24 hours per day. DOJ

September 4, 2015

Columbus Regional Healthcare System and Dr. Andrew Pippas agreed to pay more than $25 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims in violation of the Stark Law.  The settlement also resolves allegations that Columbus Regional and Pippas submitted claims for payment to federal health care programs that misrepresented the level of services they provided.  According to the government, between 2003 and 2013, Columbus Regional provided excessive salary and directorship payments to Pippas that violated the Stark Law.  The government further alleged Columbus Regional submitted claims to federal health care programs for services at higher levels than supported by the documentation.  The allegations first arose in two whistleblower lawsuits filed former Columbus Regional executive Richard Barker under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act and the Georgia False Medicaid Claims Act.  Barker will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award.  DOJ

September 4, 2015

Robert Wingfield and Bill Ma agreed to pay $385,000 and $50,000, respectively, to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by engaging in a scheme to evade customs duties on imports of aluminum extrusions from China.  Wingfield was the US sales representative for Tai Shan Golden Gain Aluminum Products Ltd., the Chinese company that exported the aluminum extrusions in this case.  According to the government, Wingfield conspired with domestic importers to submit false information to the government to evade duties, and Ma later formed a company, Northeastern Aluminum Corp., to act as the importer of record for the goods in an attempt to shield the real importers from liability.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by James F. Valenti Jr. under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  Valenti will receive a whistleblower award of approximately $79,000.  DOJ

September 4, 2015

Walter Investment Management Corp. agreed to pay $29.63 million to resolve allegations that, through its subsidiaries, Reverse Mortgage Solution Inc., REO Management Solutions LLC and RMS Asset Management Solutions LLC, it violated the False Claims Act in connection with the subsidiaries’ participation in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgages program, which insures “reverse” mortgage loans.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed former RMS executive Matthew McDonald under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  McDonald will receive a whistleblower award of $5.15 million.  DOJ

September 3, 2015

Genzyme Corporation, a wholly-owned biotechnology subsidiary of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, agreed to resolve criminal charges it violated the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act with regard to the unlawful distribution of the surgical device Seprafilm.  As part of the agreement, Genzyme agreed to admit to the facts underlying the charges and pay a monetary penalty of $32,587,439.  Whistleblower Insider

September 3, 2015

Japanese automotive parts supplier NGK Insulators Ltd. agreed to plead guilty and pay a $65.3 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for ceramic substrates for automotive catalytic converters supplied to automobile manufacturers.  According to the felony charges, NGK conspired to rig bids for and fix the prices of catalytic converter substrates supplied to automobile manufacturers such as General Motors, Toyota, Nissan and certain of their subsidiaries and suppliers in the US and elsewhere.  NGK is also charged with obstructing justice by altering, destroying, mutilating and concealing documents with the intent of impeding the investigation into criminal antitrust violations in the automotive parts industry.  DOJ

September 3, 2015

Japan-based NEC TOKIN Corp. agreed to plead guilty and pay a $13.8 million criminal fine for conspiring with competitors between 2002 and 2013 to fix prices for electrolytic capacitors sold to customers in the United States and elsewhere.  DOJ

September 3, 2015

California-based Parsons Government Services Inc. agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle allegations it knowingly mischarged the Department of Energy for ineligible or inflated short-term and long-term employee relocation costs in connection with its contract on the DOE Salt Waste Processing Facility Project at the DOE Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina.  DOJ

September 3, 2015

St. Joseph Hospice Entities, which consists of 13 hospice facilities in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Alabama, and Patrick T. Mitchell, its majority owner and manager, agreed to pay $5,867,518 to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims for delivery of continuous home care hospice services to patients who were not entitled to receive them.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by 3 former employees of the company under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  They will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $1 million.  DOJ