August 30, 2023

August 30, 2023

Lompoc Valley Medical Center (LVMC) has agreed to pay $5 million to resolve allegations of causing false claims to be submitted to California’s Medicaid program.  Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medi-Cal received federal funds to expand coverage to previously uninsured adults.  However, LVMC knowingly claimed and received payments from the government for services that were duplicative, not reimbursable, or not priced at fair market value.  CA...

Military Contractors Get Prison Sentence for Bid Rigging Scheme

Two military contractors were recently sentenced to prison time for bid-rigging violations, which the government said involved more than $17 million in government dollars, according to a DOJ press release.  This is the latest in the broader crackdown by the DOJ’s “Procurement Collusion Strike Force,” a joint effort to combat antitrust violations and government fraud. Bid rigging is when two or more individuals or entities agree on who will be...

In Service of Justice – The Importance of Whistleblowers

Whistleblowing takes courage.  Whistleblower matters also require patience to file and wait, often several years, to see if the government will intervene and then pursue a matter.  There is rarely much transparency, so the whistleblower remains somewhat in the dark and can feel a lack of control.  Retaliation for speaking up in the workplace is a significant concern. Yet the interests of justice are served by those brave people who...

In Their Own Words. . . .Booz Allen Whistleblower Sarah Feinberg

"I’ve got three kids, and I tell them, 'Doing the right thing is the right thing, no matter what the outcome is." From the NBC News article on Sarah Feinberg's False Claims Act lawsuit against Booz Allen Hamilton for allegedly overcharging the government on private consulting contracts, including with foreign governments such as Saudi Arabia.  Booz Allen ultimately settled the action (on July 21) for $377 million with Ms. Feinberg...

August 29, 2023

Goldman Sachs & Co. has been ordered to pay $5.5 million to settle CFTC charges of violating the cease-and-desist provision of a previous order.  The 2019 order had involved a failure of Goldman’s hardware to record calls to its trading and sales desk for 20 calendar days in 2014.  The present order covers two additional failures involving Goldman’s use of two third-party vendors to record and retain audio calls.  During...

3M to Pay $6.5 Million for Foreign Bribery Charges

On Friday (August 25), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Minnesota-based global manufacturer 3M Company agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle SEC charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).  According to the SEC Order finalizing the settlement, the SEC found that employees of 3M's wholly-owned Chinese subsidiary provided improper consideration to Chinese officials of state-owned health care facilities in return for business favor. Specifically, the...

August 28, 2023

Roomster and owners John Shriber and Roman Zaks have been ordered to pay $36.2 million in monetary judgment and $10.9 million in civil penalties to resolve allegations of charging consumers for access to fake listings for available housing.  Additionally, Roomster was found to have bought tens of thousands of fake reviews which it used to populate the listings.  Per settlement terms, the required payments are suspended upon payment of $1.6...

August 28, 2023

Some of the largest credit repair brands in the country, including CreditRepair.com and Lexington Law, have been banned from offering telemarketing credit repair services for 10 years to settle charges of using telemarketers to collect illegal advance fees for their services, in violation of the federal Telemarketing Sale Rule.  The companies have also been ordered to pay $2.7 billion in restitution, and two entities, Progrexion Marketing and Health law firm,...

August 28, 2023

Impact Theory, LLC will pay more than $6.1 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty, for offering and selling crypto asset securities to the public in an unregistered offering. Impact Theory sold three tiers of non-fungible tokens (NFTs)--"Legendary," "Heroic," and "Relentless," which were ostensibly an investment into their business in which Impact was "trying to build the next Disney" which would provide "tremendous value" to investors. In addition...

August 25, 2023

A whistleblower has been awarded more than $18 million for providing the SEC with information that launched an investigation.  According to the SEC, the whistleblower initially reported concerns internally before reporting to the agency.  Their assistance ultimately led to a successful enforcement action.  SEC