Government Enforcement Actions

March 20, 2015

The FTC mailed 10,620 refund checks totaling more than $416,000 to consumers who lost money buying two skin creams marketed by L’Occitane, Inc., which falsely claimed the creams had “body slimming” capabilities. The refunds are being made from money collected under a January 2014 settlement order with the company, which also agreed to stop making deceptive claims that its Almond Beautiful Shape and Almond Shaping Delight skin creams have body-slimming capabilities and are clinically proven. FTC

March 20, 2015

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit announced the arrests of four individuals for allegedly recruiting the homeless to defraud Medicaid. According to the investigation, Christina Benson, owner of Tranquility Healthcare Solutions, billed Medicaid for services not provided or warranted for homeless men and women who were recruited by her associates to pose as patients. In less than a year and a half, Tranquility fraudulently billed Medicaid approximately $3.2 million. FL

March 19, 2015

Bank of New York Mellon agreed to pay $714 million to settle charges the bank engaged in fraud and other misconduct when providing foreign exchange (“FX”) services to its customers. As part of the settlements with the US and New York, BNYM admitted that contrary to representations to clients that it provided “best rates” and “best execution” for FX transactions, the Bank actually gave clients the worst reported interbank rates of the trading day. The charges originated in a lawsuit brought by a whistleblower under the New York False Claims Act.

March 19, 2015

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Division of Consumer Protection is suing dating company Singles Plus for allegedly making false claims about success rates, matches and its screening process. FL

March 19, 2015

Bank of New York Mellon agreed to pay $714 million to settle charges the bank engaged in fraud and other misconduct when providing foreign exchange (“FX”) services to its customers.  As part of the settlements with the US and New York, BNYM admitted that contrary to representations to clients that it provided “best rates” and “best execution” for FX transactions, the Bank actually gave clients the worst reported interbank rates of the trading day.  The charges originated in a lawsuit brought by a whistleblower under the New York False Claims Act.

March 19, 2015

Dr. Michael Montejo, a radiation oncologist and former employee of Florida Oncology Network P.A, will receive a whistleblower award of $1,082,500 from the $5,412,502 settlement resolving allegations Adventist Health System Sunbelt Healthcare Corporation violated the False Claims Act by providing radiation oncology services to Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries that were not directly supervised by radiation oncologists or similarly qualified persons.  DOJ

March 18, 2015

The FTC mailed 17,606 refund checks totaling $954,828 to consumers who lost money buying a supposedly superior calcium supplement, AdvaCAL, marketed by Lane Labs-USA Inc. The refunds are being made from money collected under a 2010 U.S. Court of Appeals ruling and 2011 district court decision finding Lane Labs in contempt of a 2000 order, based on the company’s false and unsubstantiated claims for the supplement. Lane Labs claimed that AdvaCAL was the only calcium supplement that could increase bone density, and was on par or superior to prescription drugs used to treat osteoporosis. FTC

March 17, 2015

The DOJ and New York State announced a settlement with Coach USA Inc., City Sights LLC and their joint venture, Twin America LLC, to remedy competitive concerns in the New York City hop-on, hop-off bus tour market. The settlement requires the defendants to relinquish all of City Sights’ Manhattan bus stop authorizations and disgorge $7.5 million in ill-gotten profits that the defendants obtained by operating Twin America in violation of the antitrust laws. NY

March 17, 2015

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced a lawsuit against Illinois-based online sports equipment retailer Great Sports, Inc. and now-defunct Legion Global Corp. for dishonest business practices that resulted in consumers losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to Madigan’s lawsuit, consumers purchasing goods at any of the company’s websites, www.greaterpowersports.com, www.globaltrailer.net and www.saferwholesale.com, received incorrect orders or damaged products. IL

March 16, 2015

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that New York along with 49 other states and the District of Columbia have reached a settlement with global pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. to resolves allegations that Daiichi violated the False Claims Act by using lavish meals and speaker programs to improperly induce physicians to prescribe the drugs Azor, Benicar, Tribenzor and Welchol. Under the agreement, Daiichi agreed to pay the US and state Medicaid programs $39 million. The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Daiichi sales representative Kathy Fragoules under the qui tam provisions of the federal and New York State False Claims Acts. She will receive $6.1 million of the federal recovery and an undisclosed portion of the state recoveries. NY