Whistleblower Group

March 20, 2015

A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Sylvia Walter-Eze, former owner ofEzcor Medical Supply, in connection with a $3.5 million Medicare and Medi-Cal fraud scheme.  The evidence at trial demonstrated that Walter-Eze paid illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters in exchange for patient referrals, and to physicians for fraudulent prescriptions for power wheelchairs and other medically unnecessary equipment.  DOJ

March 19, 2014

Pennsylvania-based heart monitoring company BioTelemetry Inc. agreed to pay $6.4 million to resolve allegations its subsidiary CardioNet violated the False Claims Act by overbilling Medicare and other federal health programs for Mobile Cardiac Outpatient Telemetry services when those services were not reasonable or medically necessary.  DOJ

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.  Whistleblower Insider

March 19, 2014

Adventist Health System Sunbelt Healthcare Corporation agreed to pay $5,412,502 to resolve claims it 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.  The allegations arose in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Dr. Michael Montejo, a radiation oncologist and former employee of Florida Oncology Network P.A., under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  Dr. Montejo will receive a whistleblower award of $1,082,500.  DOJ

March 18, 2015

Gilbane Building Company agreed to pay $1.1 million to resolve allegations that W.G. Mills Incorporated (which Gilbane merged with in November 2010) violated the False Claims Act by creating a front company, Veterans Constructors Incorporated (VCI), in order to be awarded a Coast Guard contract that was designated for Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses.  VCI agreed to pay $50,000 plus five annual contingency payments equal to one percent of VCI’s total annual revenues to resolve the same allegations.  DOJ

March 18, 2015

Paige Okpalobi, the owner and operator of a New Orleans-based medical clinic and her accountant Christopher White pleaded guilty for their roles in a $50 million Medicare fraud scheme, which involved fraudulently billing Medicare for home health care services not needed or provided.  DOJ

March 16, 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.  DOJ March

March 16, 2015

Los Angeles pharmacist Rouzbeh Javaherian pleaded guilty to defrauding the Medicare Part D program through his pharmacy called Emoonah Inc. (d/b/a Westaid Pharmacy and Medical Supply).  Specifically, he paid illegal cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries to induce them to submit their prescriptions to Westaid and he submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare Part D plan sponsors for prescriptions he did not actually fill.  DOJ

March 13, 2015

Mohammed Sadiq, the owner of two Detroit home health care companies, pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare for $12.6 million in home health services that were not provided or were obtained through illegal kickbacks.  DOJ

March 12, 2105

California-based Plaza Bank agreed to pay $1.225 million for knowingly facilitating consumer fraud by permitting a third-party payment processor to make millions of dollars of unauthorized withdrawals from consumer bank accounts on behalf of fraudulent merchants.  DOJ