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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
April 10, 2017

				 The Virginia Department of Social Services agreed to pay roughly $7.1 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act in its administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Defendants, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Grant and Research Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 31, 2017

				 Tennessee based Exemplary Behavior, LLC and its principal, Andre Anderson, agreed to pay $20,000 to settle allegations they violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims for payment to the Defense Health Agency’s TRICARE program for the provision of therapy services, including Applied Behavior Analysis (“ABA”) to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (“ASD”).  Specifically, the settlement resolves charges that Exemplary Behavior submitted false claims to TRICARE as a result of their (1) double billing for services rendered; (2) billing for services not rendered by the billing provider; (3) providing group therapy while billing for individual therapy; and (4) billing for services, including ABA therapy, that were not actually provided. DOJ (MDTN)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 30, 2017

				 Godwin Oriakhi, owner of five Houston-area home health agencies pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud Medicare and the State of Texas’s Medicaid-funded Home and Community-Based Service and Primary Home Care programs of more than $17 million.  According to his plea, Oriakhi admitted that he, his daughter and co-defendant Idia Oriakhi, and other members of his family owned and operated: Aabraham Blessings LLC, Baptist Home Care Providers Inc., Community Wide Home Health Inc., Four Seasons Home Healthcare Inc. and Kis Med Concepts Inc., and that they obtained patients for these home health agencies by paying illegal kickback payments to patient recruiters and his office employees for hundreds of patient referrals.  Oriakhi also admitted that they paid Medicare and Medicaid patients by cash, check, Western Union and Moneygram for receiving services from his family’s home health agencies in exchange for the ability to use their Medicare and Medicaid numbers to bill the programs for home healthcare. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Home Health and Hospice, 
													  Medicaid, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 23, 2017

				 American University of Beirut agreed to pay $700,000 to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by providing material support to three entities that had been included on the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (“OFAC”) Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (the “SDN List”).  According to the government, the university provided material support to three SDN List entities by (1) providing specialized training on a variety of media topics, and (2) including one of the entities in a database on its public website to connect Non-Governmental Organizations with students and others interested in assisting them. DOJ (SDNY)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Grant and Research Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 17, 2017

				 Houston-Area nurse Charles Esechie pleaded guilty today for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme that resulted in losses to Medicare of more than $5 million.  According to the plea, Esechie worked as a nurse for both Harris County, Texas Hospital District and Baptist Home Care Providers Inc., one of five Houston-area home healthcare agencies owned by Godwin Oriakhi.  Esechie admitted that while he worked at Baptist, he knew that Oriakhi obtained Medicare patients by paying illegal kickback payments to patient recruiters for referring patients to Baptist for home healthcare services that Esechie knew were medically unnecessary and often not provided. DOJ				 			
	
		
		
	


 			


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 10, 2017

				 New York based information technology management software company CA Inc. agreed to pay $45 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by making false claims in the negotiation and administration of a General Services Administration contract.  According to the government, CA provided false information about the discounts it gave commercial customers for its software licenses and maintenance services at the time the contract was negotiated and also violated the price reduction clause in the contract by not providing government customers with additional discounts when commercial discounts improved.  The allegations originated a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Dani Shemesh, a former employee of CA Software Israel LTD.  Shemesh will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $10.2 million from the proceeds of the government's recovery. DOJ				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 10, 2017

				 Volkswagen AG pleaded guilty to three felony counts charging: (1) conspiracy to defraud the United States, engage in wire fraud, and violate the Clean Air Act; (2) obstruction of justice; and (3) importation of merchandise by means of false statements.  As part of the plea, the company agreed to pay a $2.8 billion penalty as a result of the company’s decade-long scheme to sell diesel vehicles containing software designed to cheat on U.S. emissions tests. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Environmental Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
March 7, 2017

				 German auto parts maker Kiekert AG agreed to plead guilty and pay a $6.1 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to rig bids of side-door latches and latch minimodules. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Bribery and Bid-Rigging, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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