Whistleblower News From The Inside — March 8, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Raytheon must face $1 billion whistleblower lawsuit -- The 9th Circuit overturned a district court's dismissal of a False Claims Act suit "accusing the defense contractor of fraudulently overbilling the U.S. government under a contract to develop a weather sensor for a costly environmental satellite system."  Reuters Maybe too big to jail, but never too small -- Gordon Schnell writes on the current state...

March 2, 2016

Mark T. Conklin, the former owner and operator of Florida-based Recovery Home Care Inc. and Recovery Home Care Services Inc. (RHC) agreed to pay $1.75 million to resolve charges of violating the False Claims Act by paying illegal kickbacks to doctors who agreed to refer Medicare patients to RHC for home health care services.  Conklin sold RHC to National Home Care Holdings in October 2012.   According to the government, Conklin...

March 1, 2016

Olympus Corp. of America, the country’s largest distributor of endoscopes and related equipment, agreed to pay $623.2 million to resolve alleged violations of the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute through a scheme to pay kickbacks to doctors and hospitals.  It is the largest payout ever by a medical device company for violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute.  In addition, Olympus subsidiary Olympus Latin America Inc. also agreed to pay $22.8...

DOJ Catch of the Week -- Olympus Corp.

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to Olympus Corp. of America, the country's largest distributor of endoscopes and related equipment.  On Tuesday, the company agreed to pay $623.2 million to resolve criminal charges and civil claims for the company's violations of the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute through a scheme to pay kickbacks to doctors and hospitals.  It is...

In Their Own Words — Richmond

-- “Home health agency owners who seek to boost profits by paying kickbacks to physicians in exchange for patient referrals will instead pay for their improper conduct at the settlement table.” Special Agent in Charge Shimon R. Richmond of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). Click here for more.

Whistleblower News From The Inside — March 3, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Energy pioneer McClendon dies in fiery car crash, a day after indictment alleging bid rigging – Former Chesapeake Energy Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon, a brash risk-taker who helped transform the U.S. energy industry with shale gas, died when his car slammed into an overpass on Wednesday, one day after being charged with breaking federal antitrust laws, police said. Reuters St. Louis chiropractor sent to...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — February 23, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Tenet Healthcare Corp. offers to pay $238M to settle whistleblower charges of illegal kickbacks -- The whistleblower and government allege the Dallas-based hospital chain violated the False Claims Act by engaging in a kickback scheme for maternity referrals with four of its Georgia hospitals.  Modern Healthcare 9th Circuit says Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not federal agencies covered under False Claims Act --...

February 18, 2016

National mortgage lender and servicer HSBC has agreed to pay $4 million to resolve allegations that it received commissions and other kickbacks relating to force-placed insurance policies that it procured for struggling Massachusetts homeowners. Force-placed insurance is property insurance that mortgage servicers obtain on behalf of homeowners when they believe homeowners have failed to maintain adequate homeowners insurance. Force-placed insurance often occurs in circumstances where a borrower has fallen behind...

February 17, 2016

The Justice Department announced that an Enterprise, Alabama, resident was sentenced to 48 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for accepting unlawful kickbacks and tax evasion. According to court documents and statements made in open court, Victor Villalobos, 47, worked for a federal prime contractor at Fort Rucker, Alabama. In 2009, Villalobos approached Maxim Silinsky, a Florida-based subcontractor for this company, and solicited illegal...

February 9, 2016

Miami physician Henry Lora, medical director of Miami-area clinic Merfi Corporation, pleaded guilty for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme that caused more than $20 million in losses.  Lora admitted that in exchange for kickbacks and bribes, he and his co-conspirators wrote prescriptions for home health care and other services for Medicare beneficiaries that were not medically necessary or not provided.  Lora and his co-conspirators also falsified patient records...