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DOJ Enforcement Actions

					
The Department of Justice is the principal federal agency authorized to enforce the laws and defend the interests of the United States. As such, it oversees the enforcement of the False Claims Act, the foundation of the American whistleblower system, as well as numerous other laws.


The agency traces its origins to the Judiciary Act of 1789 which created the Office of the Attorney General, and the 1870 Act to Establish the Department of Justice, which established the agency as “an executive department of the government of the United States” with the Attorney General as its head.


The agency is comprised of numerous divisions with the Civil Division and in some instances, the Criminal Division, overseeing investigations and prosecutions under the False Claims Act. The U.S. Attorneys Office of the federal district where the False Claims Act case is filed also plays a key role in False Claims Act enforcement.


Below are summaries of recent DOJ settlements or successful resolutions under the False Claims Act as well as other successful prosecutions for fraud and misconduct. If you believe you have information about fraud which could give  rise to a claim for a whistleblower reward, please contact us to speak with one of our experienced whistleblower attorneys.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
January 31, 2023

				 New York-based High Life LLC, which designs and imports apparel, has agreed to pay $1.3 million after admitting that it underreported the value of 67 shipments into the United States to avoid paying customs duties.  After multiple shipments were detained for possibly fraudulent declared values, High Life switched from purchasing apparel on Landed Duty Paid (LDP) to Free on Board (FOB), which allowed it to use the price its vendors paid to manufacturers as the value of the shipment, rather than what High Life paid the vendors.  However, because there were other restrictions on declaring value, High Life developed a formula to calculate what it wanted the declared value to be, then instructed vendors to use it.  USAO SDNY				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Customs Fraud, 
													  FCA Federal, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 30, 2023

				 International Vitamins Corporation (IVC), which imports and sells vitamins and supplements from China, has agreed to pay $22.8 million to settle claims of defrauding the United States.  The U.S.-based company allegedly avoided U.S. customs duties by misclassifying over 30 of its products, then failed to pay back duties owed after realizing it had underpaid millions of dollars.  The alleged fraud occurred between 2015 and 2019, and only came to scrutiny through a whistleblower’s lawsuit.  USAO SDNY				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Customs Fraud, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 30, 2023

				 A doctor in Michigan who was involved in a $250 million fraud scheme against Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurers, has been sentenced to 16.5 years in prison.  Along with 21 co-conspirators, Dr. Francisco Patino took advantage of patients suffering from addiction by forcing them to receive medically unnecessary, painful, but lucrative spinal injections in exchange for opioid prescriptions.  Additionally, Patino knowingly violated the Anti-Kickback and Stark laws by receiving kickbacks from a laboratory in exchange for sending patient samples to that lab.  All told, Patino submitted more claims to Medicare for spinal injections than any other provider in the country between 2012 and 2017, prescribed more Oxycodone than any other provider in Michigan in 2016 and 2017, and was personally responsible for $120 million of the $250 million in false claims billed to insurers.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Laboratory and IDTF, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 27, 2023

				 Walgreen Co. has paid $7 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit by the United States and State of Tennessee that alleged the company submitted claims to Tennessee’s Medicaid program for specialty medications that didn’t meet the program’s criteria for coverage.  According to the governments’ 2021 complaint, one of Walgreens’ former pharmacists falsified prior authorization requests and records for 65 Medicaid beneficiaries who didn’t meet program requirements.  The company then billed TennCare under those false prior authorization requests, and later failed to make repayments even after it discovered its employee’s misconduct.  USAO EDTN				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Pharma Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 24, 2023

				 A former energy company executive accused of defrauding investors of more than $15 million and misappropriating investor funds has been sentenced to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud.  While serving as the executive chairman and managing partner of Citadel Energy, which supposedly helped oil and gas companies with fluid management, Joey Stanton Dodson made false and misleading representations and omissions to investors concerning the intended use of their funds and his own compensation.  After obtaining over $15.6 million from over 50 investors, Dodson misappropriated $1.3 million into his own accounts, and used some of it to repay investors of unrelated entities.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Financial and Investment Fraud, 
													  Misrepresentations, 
													  Ponzi Schemes, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 20, 2023

				 DePuy Synthes, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson that manufactures medical devices, has agreed to pay $9.75 million to resolve allegations of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid.  According to former sales representative Aleksej Gusakovs, DePuy gave a Massachusetts-based orthopedic surgeon thousands of dollars’ worth of free implants and instruments for use in overseas surgeries.  The illegal kickbacks induced the surgeon to use DePuy products in surgeries performed in the United States, and caused false claims to be submitted to Medicare and the Massachusetts Medicaid program.  As the whistleblower in a successful qui tam action, Gusakovs will receive a $1.37 million share of the settlement.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medical Devices and DME, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 18, 2023

				 The owner of several construction companies has been ordered to pay $1.75 million and serve over 2 years in prison after being convicted of fraudulently obtaining over $240 million in government contracts set aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB).  Michael Angelo Padron had recruited a service-disabled veteran to serve as the companies’ ostensible owner, but he and his business partners retained actual control of all financial and operational decisions, in violation of program rules set forth by the Small Business Administration (SBA).  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Set-Asides and Preferences, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 12, 2023

				 Blue Water Shipping U.S. Inc. has agreed to pay $1.89 million to settle claims that one of its former employees billed the government for freight forwarding services that were never performed and charged the government unallowable markups for inland transportation, and imports and exports of ocean and air freight.  USAO NJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Government Procurement Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 9, 2023

				 Doctor Aarti Pandya and her practice, Aarti D. Pandya, M.D. P.C., have agreed to pay $1.8 million to resolve a whistleblower suit that alleged they billed federal healthcare programs for medically unnecessary cataract surgeries and diagnostic tests, incomplete or worthless tests, and office visits that failed to provide the level of service claimed.  The allegations were brought in a 2013 qui tam suit by former employee Laura Dildine, which the government intervened on in 2018. In addition to the false claims listed above, Pandya also allegedly falsely diagnosed patients with glaucoma in order to justify claims for reimbursement.  USAO SDGA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 4, 2023

				 The former Minister of Government for Bolivia, Arturo Carlos Murillo Prijic, was sentenced to nearly 6 years in prison after pleading guilty to laundering over $500,000 in bribes through bank accounts based in Miami.  Prijic had received the bribes from a Florida-based company in exchange for helping them secure a $5.6 million contract to provide non-lethal equipment, such as tear gas, to the Bolivian Ministry of Defense.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Bribery and Bid-Rigging, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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