August 1, 2023

August 1, 2023

A now defunct clinical laboratory in Texas, BestCare Laboratory Services LLC, and its owner, Karim Maghareh, have agreed to pay another $5.7 million on top of nearly $800,000 already paid to the government to resolve an outstanding obligation under a 2018 judgment for violating the False Claims Act.  The underlying lawsuit, filed in 2008 by whistleblower Richard Drummond, alleged that BestCare billed Medicare for travel by lab technicians that did...

The Antitrust Week In Review

Here are some of the developments in antitrust news this past week that we found interesting and are following.   NCAA must face volunteer coaches' antitrust lawsuits over pay, US judge says.  A U.S. judge on Thursday said the governing body for American intercollegiate sports must face a pair of class actions in California that claim curbs on compensation for thousands of volunteer coaches violated federal antitrust law. In a...

July 31, 2023

The distributors of a product marked as a quick and easy way to quit smoking has been ordered to pay over $7 million in restitution as well as a $500,000 civil penalty.  Michael Connors and his companies ProTouch Marketing LLC (d/b/a Smart Day Supplements), Woodford Hills LLC, Oakhill Research LLC, Evergreen Marketing LLC, Sterling Health LLC, and Clara Vista Media LLC allegedly repeatedly violated the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act...

July 31, 2023

Martin’s Point Health Care Inc. in Maine has agreed to pay almost $22.5 million to resolve a lawsuit by a former manager in its Risk Adjustment Operations group, which alleged the health plan administrator defrauded Medicare over a three year period.  The former manager, Alicia Wilbur, alleged that Martin’s Point reviewed charts for their Medicare Advantage beneficiaries to identify additional diagnosis codes, then submitted those codes in claims to Medicare...

Thomas Jefferson University Pays $2.7 Million to Settle Student Loan Fraud Allegations

Thomas Jefferson University has agreed to pay $2.7 million to settle allegations concerning the misuse and improper retention of "primary care" student financial aid loans. Education fraud encompasses traditional financial aid programs as well as specialty loan programs like the Primary Care Loan program at issue here. Congress established the Primary Care Loan program to address the nation’s shortage of primary care physicians. The program issues awards to medical schools...

July 30 Is National Whistleblower Appreciation Day -- Have You Thanked A Whistleblower Lately?

July 30 is National Whistleblower Appreciation Day.  Thanks to Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), co-heads of the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus, it is the tenth year in a row for this annual marker to celebrate whistleblowers and the critical role they play in protecting our health and well-being.  In announcing their bipartisan resolution designating this special day, the senators did not mince words in their warm embrace...

July 28, 2023

Thomas D. Renison and Timothy J. Allcott, co-founders of ARO Equity, LLC, were sentenced to 48 months and 30 months in prison, respectively, for lying to current and prospective investors about ARO's performance and for using new investors' funds to pay interest to older investors. For at least 3 years, and despite Renison being barred in 2014 by the SEC from associating with any investment adviser or broker-dealer, Renison and Allcott deceptively...

Grassley Leads Bipartisan Effort to Shore Up CFTC Whistleblower Program

On Wednesday (July 26), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced his bipartisan charge to adopt legislation to strengthen the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Whistleblower Program.  This is the program that both encourages and protects individuals for coming forward with information relating to potential violations of the Commodities Exchange Act and rewards them with up to 30 percent of any government recovery. Joining Senator Grassley in this effort is Representative Zach...

July 28, 2023

Summitcrest Capital, Inc., and its principals, Johnny Tseng and Kevin Zhang, raised approximately $19.8 million from Chinese-speaking investors in the United States and China, misleading them to believe the funds would be used to make real estate-related loans "to the general public" and the income from these loans would be used to make interest payments and return of capital to investors. Tseng and Zhang, through their entity SC Development Fund, instead used...

Payments News Update - July 28, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: DOJ Continues to Probe Visa Over Debit Cards, Other Payment Methods PYMNTS – July 26, 2023 Visa is reportedly under continued scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice. A new civil investigative demand, similar to a subpoena, was filed May 2, bringing to light a deepening inquiry into the payment processor’s practices, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (July 26). Visa said in a regulatory filing made Wednesday with...