Government Enforcement Actions

December 22, 2014

French power and transportation company Alstom S.A. pleaded guilty today and agreed to pay $772M to resolve charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act through a widespread scheme involving tens of millions of dollars in bribes in countries around the world, including Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Bahamas. Whistleblower Insider

December 19, 2014

Lockheed Martin subsidiary Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems agreed to pay $27.5M to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by overbilling the government on US Army contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan. DOJ

December 19, 2014

Boston-based records storage company Iron Mountain agreed to pay $44.5M to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by overcharging federal agencies for record storage services under General Services Administration (GSA) contracts. The charges originated with a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Brent Stanley, a former Iron Mountain employee, and Patrick McKillop, who worked in the records management industry. Collectively, they will receive a whistleblower reward of $8M. DOJ

December 18, 2014

Former Department of Defense civilian employee Jonathan M. Hargett was sentenced today to serve 40 months in prison and to pay $2.2M in restitution for his participation in a health care fraud scheme in which he collected over $2.2M from fraudulent claims for federal health care benefits. DOJ

December 18, 2014

Robert L. Holloway, former CEO of US Ventures LC, was sentenced to 225 months in prison and to pay $15.2M in restitution for orchestrating a $33M Ponzi scheme resulting in $15.2M in losses to investors.DOJ

December 18, 2014

Houston investment manager Robert Andres was sentenced to 56 months in prison and to pay more than $3.2M in restitution for orchestrating a $72M investment fraud scheme resulting in approximately $40M in losses to investors. According to his guilty plea, between October 2005 and 2011, Andres recruited investors for Winsome Investment Trust, where he served as the sole manager, attorney and trustee, by misrepresenting Winsome’s assets, asset allocation and the manner in which investor funds were invested. Andres also misappropriated approximately $2.2M in investor money for personal use, including to pay his hotel bills and living expenses. DOJ

December 17, 2014

New York-based cosmetics giant Avon Products Inc.and its wholly owned subsidiary Avon Products (China) Co. Ltd. pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by making and concealing illicit payments to Chinese government officials to secure business there. The company agreed to pay more than $135M in criminal and regulatory penalties to resolve the charges. According to the government, from at least 2004 through 2008, Avon and Avon China conspired to falsify Avon’s books and records by falsely describing the nature and purpose of certain Avon China transactions. Specifically, the companies sought to disguise more than $8 million worth of gifts, travel, meals and entertainment that Avon China executives gave to Chinese officials. The Avon entities will pay $68M in criminal penalties and another $67M in related FCPA matter it settled with the SEC. Whistleblower Insider

December 17, 2014

Former CEO Benito Chinea and former managing director Joseph De Meneses of a US broker-dealer which established a group called Global Markets Group pleaded guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FPCA) and the Travel Act by bribing senior official in Venezuela’s state economic development bank in return for trading business that generated more than $60M. Chinea and De Meneses also agreed to pay $3.6M and $2.7M, respectively. DOJ

December 17, 2014

Mark Morad and Dr. Divini Luccioni, both of Louisiana, pleaded guilty to their role in a $56M Medicare fraud scheme. According to court documents, Morad directed the scheme through multiple New Orleans-area companies he owned, including Interlink Health Care Services Inc.,Memorial Home Health Inc., Lakeland Health Care Services Inc., Lexmark Health Care LLC, and Med Rite Pharmacy Inc. Morad paid kickbacks to recruiters who canvassed New Orleans neighborhoods for Medicare beneficiary numbers, which Morad then used to bill Medicare for services that were not medically necessary or not provided. Dr. Luccioni admitted that he signed home health referrals and wrote DME prescriptions that were used to support these fraudulent billings. DOJ

December 17, 2014

Barry Steinlight, the owner and president of dietary supplement manufacturing company Raw Deal, Inc., pleaded guilty to a scheme in which he directed the sale of diluted and adulterated dietary ingredients and supplements. From at least 2009 through November 2013, Steinlight instructed Raw Deal employees to add “fillers” to the dietary ingredients and supplements sold to Raw Deal’s customers. DOJ