Government Enforcement Actions

May 20, 2014

The DOJ announced it will require ConAgra Foods, Cargill, CHS Inc., and Horizon Milling to divest four competitively significant flour mills in order to proceed with the formation of Ardent Mills, a flour milling joint venture. The government said the divestitures are necessary to preserve flour milling competition in four regions of the country encompassing large cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis and the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area, resulting in more competitive prices for wheat flour purchasers and ultimately lower prices for consumers who purchase wheat flour-based products, such as bread, cookies and crackers. DOJ

May 19, 2014

Credit Suisse pled guilty to criminal charges of conspiring to help thousands of US taxpayers evade taxes and agreed to pay fines and restitution amounting to $2.6 billion. It is the first big bank to plead guilty to illegal activity since Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1989. Whistleblower Insider

May 19, 2014

Todd Farha, former CEO of WellCare, an operator of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in several states, was sentenced to serve 36 months in prison for defrauding the Florida Medicaid program. According to court records and evidence at trial, Farha and others orchestrated a scheme to defraud the Florida Medicaid program from the summer of 2003 through the fall of 2007 by making fraudulent statements relating to expenditures for behavioral health care services. Under a prior settlement with the government, WellCare was required to pay $80M in restitution and forfeitures. In a related civil qui tam case filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, Wellcare also paid $137.5M in civil fines and penalties. DOJ

May 15, 2014

Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese trading company involved in products and services in a broad range of sectors around the world, including power generation, was sentenced today for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes to high-ranking government officials in Indonesia to secure a lucrative power project. The company signed a plea agreement admitting its criminal conduct and agreeing to pay an $88M fine. DOJ

May 14, 2014

Richard Shannon, a patient recruiter for All American and Patient Choice, two home health care companies that provide skilled nursing and physical therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries in the greater Detroit area, was sentenced to 86 months in prison for his role in a $14.5M Medicare fraud scheme. The evidence showed that Shannon paid Medicare beneficiaries to sign blank documents for physical therapy services that were never provided and/or medically unnecessary. Shannon recruited destitute beneficiaries from housing projects and soup kitchens in the Detroit area, obtaining their patient information in exchange for cash and promises of prescription narcotics prescribed by co-conspirator physicians. DOJ

May 14, 2014

Electrolux Home Products agreed to pay a civil penalty of $750,000 to settle allegations that it knowingly failed to report immediately to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) a safety hazard associated with certain wall ovens sold to consumers. DOJ

May 13, 2014

Student loan company Sallie Mae, and its former student loan servicing arm, Navient Solutions, agreed to pay $100M to settle charges that they violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by overcharging military members for student loans. Whistleblower Insider

May 6, 2014

Baptist Health System, the parent company for a network of affiliated hospitals and medical providers in the Jacksonville, Florida area, agreed to pay $2.5M to settle allegations that its subsidiaries violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims to Medicare and Medicaid for medically unnecessary services and drugs. Specifically, the government charged that two neurologists in the Baptist Health network intentionally misdiagnosed patients with various neurological disorders so they could bill the government health care programs for services and drugs they did not actually need. The allegations were first raised in a qui tam lawsuit filed by former Baptist Health employee, Verchetta Wells, under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act. DOJ

May 6, 2014

The owners of Alpha Ambulance Inc. , a now-defunct Los Angeles-area ambulance transportation company, were sentenced for committing Medicare fraud by providing non-emergency ambulance transportation to Medicare beneficiaries whose medical condition at that time did not require ambulance transportation and then altering required documentation to conceal the scheme. DOJ

April 30, 2014

A federal jury in Detroit convicted a physical therapist, physical therapy assistant and unlicensed doctor for their participation in a $15M Medicare fraud scheme at Detroit area companies Physicians Choice Home Health Care, Quantum Home Care, First Care Home Health Care, Moonlite Home Care and Phoenix Visiting Physicians. According to evidence presented at trial, these companies operated a fraudulent scheme to bill Medicare for home health care services that were never provided and paid kickbacks to recruiters who in turn paid Medicare beneficiaries cash and promised them access to narcotic prescriptions. DOJ