Whistleblower Group

January 10, 2024

Clinical laboratory RDx Bioscience Inc. and its owner and CEO Eric Leykin have agreed to pay over $10 million to the federal government and about $3 million to the State of New Jersey for violating the Anti-Kickback Statute and federal and state False Claims Acts.  From 2018 to 2022, RDx and Leykin were allegedly involved with five types of kickback schemes in order to induce referrals to RDx for laboratory testing, then submitted or caused false claims to be submitted to Medicare and Medicaid that were unnecessary or uncovered.  DOJ

January 10, 2024

National auto title lending company Community Loans of America (CLA) has agreed to pay $2.2 million in restitution and cancel $3.7 million in outstanding debt after an investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office found it subjected Pennsylvanian borrowers to unlawful lending practices and exorbitant interest rates.  Title loans are effectively prohibited in Pennsylvania because they are high-cost loans and lenders typically charge interest rates that are far above the state’s 25% annual interest limit.  CLA still managed to collect money and repossess vehicles from Pennsylvanian consumers by claiming to have offices in the state but redirecting consumers to locations in Delaware.  PA AG

January 10, 2024

In the largest civil penalty ever for a Clean Air Act case, engine manufacturer Cummins, Inc. of Indiana has agreed to pay $1.675 billion in penalties to the EPA, $164 million in penalties and $175 million in mitigation efforts to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and $33 million in penalties to the California Attorney General’s Office to resolve charges of deliberately circumventing vehicle emissions control equipment in their engines.  Cummins allegedly installed illegal defeat devices in the engines of more than 600,000 pickup trucks nationwide.  Now, the company must recall those engines and update the control software within three years, and fully offset the excess NOx emissions from those trucks by funding certain mitigation efforts.  DOJ; CA AG

January 10, 2024

German software company SAP SE (SAP) has agreed to pay over $220 million and enter into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ to resolve allegations of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes to government officials in Azerbaijan, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, and Tanzania from at least 2014 to 2022.  The company allegedly paid third parties to pay the bribes, then recorded the bribes as legitimate business expenses in its books and records.  To resolve parallel investigations with other authorities, SAP has agreed to pay almost $100 million to the SEC, which will be offset by a $59 million payment already made to the South African government.  DOJ; SEC

January 8, 2024

Invitation Homes, which owns and manages about 12,000 rental homes across California, has agreed to pay $2.04 million in civil penalties to resolve allegations of violating the state’s price gouging law and Tenant Protection Act (TPA).  California’s price gouging law prohibits landlords from increasing rent by more than 10% in the aftermath of a state of emergency, while the TPA prohibits increasing rent by more than 5% plus the percentage change in the annual cost of living.  Yet between 2019 and 2022, that is exactly what the company did.  In addition to paying civil penalties, Invitation Homes is required to restore lawful rental rates to California tenants and ensure compliance with all state and local laws.  CA AG

January 5, 2024

A Florida man, Karel Felipe, and Florida woman, Tamara Quicutis, have been sentenced to 8 years and 5 years respectively for their roles in a $93 million fraud scheme against Medicare.  Felipe and Quicutis were found guilty last October of submitting claims on behalf of three Michigan-based home health companies, for services never rendered, using stolen patient information, and then laundering the proceeds through dozens of shell companies and hundreds of bank accounts.  Their fellow co-conspirators—Jesus Trujillo, Didier Arcia, Alexey Gil, and Jeffrey Avila—have already been sentenced for their roles.  DOJ

January 4, 2024

ChristianaCare has paid $42.5 million for violations of the federal False Claims Act and the Delaware False Claims and Reporting Act. In a qui tam whistleblower complaint filed in 2017, ChristianaCare's former chief compliance officer alleged illegal remuneration was provided to non-employee neonatologists and surgeons in the form of free or below fair market services by ancillary support providers, such as nurse practitioners, hospitalists, and physician assistants. These services were meant to induce referrals from the non-employees, creating a financial relationship. USAO DE