DOJ Releases False Claims Act Results for 2023

The Department of Justice (DOJ) just released its False Claims Act results for 2023.  By all accounts, it was another big year for the government's primary fraud-fighting tool.  The top-line numbers are roughly $2.7 billion in total recoveries from 543 settlements and judgments, the highest number of settlements and judgments in a single year.  This brings the total tally of False Claims Act recoveries to more than $75 billion since...

Recent Settlements Show Kickbacks are Always a DOJ Enforcement Priority

The Department of Justice regularly highlights the areas of fraudulent conduct it intends to target as enforcement priorities.  These identified enforcement priorities tend to cover burgeoning areas of fraud or particular misbehavior especially ripe or prevalent because of the particular times we live in.  As might be expected, DOJ's current listing of priorities includes fraud related to the pandemic, opioids, the elderly, electronic health records, telehealth services, and as most...

Payments News Update – October 15, 2021

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: European Banks Debate Rival to US Payment Giants Politico EU – September 30, 2021 Europe’s biggest banks will decide if it’s in their interests to take on the U.S. payment duopoly of Mastercard and Visa as soon as next month, as political pressure grows to break American dominance in this space. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, BNP Paribas, ING, Santander, UniCredit and BBVA are among 22 backers...

Constantine Cannon Client Secures Record $90 Million False Claims Act Whistleblower Settlement with Sutter Health

Sutter Health settles closely watched whistleblower lawsuit alleging it violated the False Claims Act by submitting inaccurate and unsupported medical information on tens of thousands of patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage. SAN FRANCISCO, CA (August 30, 2021) – Constantine Cannon, together with co-counsel Keller Grover and Kleiman Rajaram, announce the landmark $90 million False Claims Act settlement with Sutter Health on behalf of their whistleblower client, Kathy Ormsby, over allegations...

Top Ten Environmental Fraud Settlements for 2020

In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic uprooted our routines and put life on pause in 2020. But environmental fraud continued unabated, and so did enforcement actions against the perpetrators. We saw two major enforcement actions relating to devices designed to evade emissions requirements, several enforcement actions relating to water contamination and the knowing sale of products containing harmful pollutants, and several more against companies who took advantage of environmental tax...

Eastern District of CA Announces First Civil Settlement Related to CARES Act Fraud

The Eastern District of California announced the very first civil settlement to resolve allegations of fraud against the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program. The agreement was entered into with SlideBelts, Inc., and its President, CFO and CEO, Brigham Taylor, for falsely certifying on its PPP applications to three financial institutions that they were not in bankruptcy when, in fact, they had been in the bankruptcy process since August 2019. Over...

Top Ten Non-Healthcare False Claims Act Recoveries of 2020

This year’s Top Ten Non-Healthcare False Claims Act Recoveries demonstrates the False Claims Act’s power to combat an array of corporate misconduct spanning diverse industries. In 2020, the United States recovered hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds obtained through claims rendered false by bribery and bid-rigging schemes, mortgage underwriting fraud, avoided import duties, fraudulent loan applications, and other garden-variety contracting fraud schemes like overbilling on government contracts or selling the...

Payments News Update – December 3, 2020

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Visa Is Doing What Big American Companies Do to ‘Protect This Business’ The New York Times – December 2, 2020 (subscription required) Visa dominates the lucrative business of processing debit card transactions. Merchants must choose between paying the financial services company’s fees or forgoing sales to the millions of Americans who carry cards emblazoned with Visa’s logo. A San Francisco technology start-up named Plaid threatened...

DOJ Charges Healthcare CEO with Criminal Securities and Healthcare Fraud

In 2008, Rahm Emanuel, then-President Obama’s chief of staff, famously said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.  I mean, it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”  However poorly phrased, generations of political and business leaders have understood the kernel of truth in his admonition. So have scammers and rip-off artists. We have been following the burgeoning industry of COVID-19...

Increased Federal Funds, Incentives, and Requirements for Nursing Homes Brings Worrisome Opportunities for Fraud

The pandemic has exposed the razor thin margin for error by which our most vulnerable are cared for in nursing homes. New aggregate federal data reveal the appalling toll on facility residents and staff: over 31,700 deaths as of June 4, 2020 (an undercounted 1/3 of all US COVID-19 deaths), according to the federal government’s Nursing Home Compare.  Responsive federal funding for nursing homes, requirements for coronavirus reporting, and increased...