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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
March 27, 2018

				 Iowa acute care hospital Genesis Medical Center agreed to pay $1.88 million to settle claims it violated the False Claims Act by improperly retaining Medicare overpayments for hospital inpatient admission claims when those claims should have been billed at the lower reimbursement rate for either outpatient or observation services. DOJ (SDIA)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Hospital Fraud, 
													  Upcoding, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 23, 2018

				 Massachusetts-based medical device manufacturer Alere Inc. agreed to pay $33.2 million to resolve allegations that Alere violated the False Claims Act by causing hospitals to submit false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare programs by knowingly selling unreliable point-of-care diagnostic testing devices marketed under the trade name Triage. According to the government, Alere received customer complaints that put it on notice that certain devices it sold produced erroneous results that had the potential to create false positives and false negatives that adversely affected clinical decision-making. Nonetheless, the company failed to take appropriate corrective actions until FDA inspections prompted a nationwide product recall in 2012. The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Amanda Wu, who formerly worked for Alere as a senior quality control analyst. She will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $5.6 million from the proceeds of the government's recovery. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Defective Products, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Medical Devices and DME, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 22, 2018

				 Four Maryland skilled nursing facilities and two consulting companies, Caring Heart Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, GNH, LLC, OPOP, LLC, Riverview SNF, LLC, Global Healthcare Services Group, LLC, and GHC Clinical Consultants, LLC, agreed to pay a total of $6 million to settle claims of violating the False Claims Act by billing Medicare for skilled therapy services that were either not delivered or not medically necessary. The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. The whistleblower will receive an award of $990,000 from the proceeds of the government’s recovery. DOJ (MD)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  SNF, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 21, 2018

				 University of Pittsburgh professor Christian Schunn agreed to pay $132,000 to settle claims of violating the False Claims Act by submitting false documents to the National Science Foundation to obtain federal grants to fund his research. DOJ (WDPA)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Grant and Research Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 16, 2018

				 Four Maryland healthcare providers settled claims they violated the False Claims Act by improperly coding for certain medical tests they billed to Medicare: St. Agnes Healthcare, Inc., which owns and operates St Agnes hospital in Baltimore, agreed to pay roughly $70,000; Horizon Vascular Specialists agreed to pay roughly $518,000; Riverside Medical Associates agreed to pay roughly $177,000; and Maryland Specialty Group agreed to pay roughly $87,000.  Dr. Itsuro Uchino agreed to pay roughly $91,000. DOJ (MD)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Hospital Fraud, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 15, 2018

				 Japanese-based Toyobo Co. Ltd. and its American subsidiary Toyobo U.S.A. Inc. agreed to pay $66 million to resolve claims they violated the False Claims Act for selling defective Zylon fiber used in bullet proof vests that the United States purchased for federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies. According to the government, Toyobo knew that Zylon degraded quickly in normal heat and humidity, and that this degradation rendered bullet proof vests containing Zylon unfit for use. But Toyobo nonetheless actively marketed Zylon fiber for bullet proof vests, published misleading degradation data that understated the degradation problem. The settlement is part of a larger investigation of the body armor industry’s use of Zylon in which the government previously recovered more than $66 million from 16 entities involved in the manufacture, distribution or sale of Zylon vests. The allegations surrounding this settlement originated under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by law enforcement officer Dr. Aaron Westrick, who is now a Criminal Justice professor at Lake Superior University. He will receive a whistleblower award of $5,775,000 from the proceeds of the government's recovery. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Contract Non-Compliance, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Government Procurement Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 13, 2018

				 Marshfield Medical, Inc. (formerly known as Bromedicon, Inc.) agreed to pay $550,000 to settle claims it violated the False Claims Act for submitting claims to Medicare and other federal health care programs without providing a qualified interpreting physician to monitor each surgery for which it purportedly provided remote Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring. According to the government, in some of those cases, no one monitored the data stream from the surgeries and in others, Bromedicon’s medical director, a foreign medical school graduate with no license to practice medicine in the United States, was the only monitor. The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  DOJ (EDPA)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Improper Medical Personnel, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 13, 2018

				 Transport Logistics International Inc., a Maryland-based company that provides services for the transportation of nuclear materials, agreed to pay a $2 million penalty to resolve criminal charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with a scheme that involved the bribery of an official at a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCPA, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 12, 2018

				 Placer Mining Company, Inc. agreed to pay up to $20 million to resolve the company's cleanup liability in Idaho’s northern panhandle. The settlement enables the return to production of Bunker Hill Mine after a hiatus of more than two decades. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Environmental Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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