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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
October 14, 2022

				 The owners of two Texas-based home health clinics have been sentenced to 10 years in prison each after a jury convicted them of conspiring to commit healthcare fraud.  Alfred Olotin Alatan, who owned Colony Home Health Services, and Francis Ekene, who owned Milten Medical Clinic, allegedly paid recruiters for patient information, then billed providers for home health services, regardless of need.  Co-conspirators Susana Bermudez and Rita Kpotie Smith, both of whom operated the clinics under Alatan’s direction, are currently serving 2.5 years and 5 years in prison, respectively.  USAO SDTX				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Home Health and Hospice, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 14, 2022

				 Illinois Bell Telephone Company, LLC, d/b/a AT&T Illinois, has agreed to pay $23 million under a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve a bribery investigation.  As part of the resolution, AT&T Illinois admitted that it paid an ally of former Illinois Speaker of the House Michael J. Madigan $22,500 through a lobbying firm to unlawfully influence legislation favorable to the company.  USAO NDIL				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Bribery and Bid-Rigging, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 13, 2022

				 Wisconsin-based public relations firm BVK, Inc. has agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle claims that it was ineligible for a second-draw loan that it received under the Paycheck Protection Program.  The second-draw loans had additional eligibility requirements from the first-draw loans, including a requirement that organizations that performed certain work on behalf of foreign governments were not allowed to receive a second-draw loan.  According to a whistleblower, at the time it applied for the second-draw loan, BVK was allegedly performing work on behalf of the government of the Dominican Republic and was thus ineligible for the loan it ultimately received.  USAO EDWI				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Government Programs Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 12, 2022

				 Four pharmacies have agreed to pay over $6.8 million to settle a qui tam suit that alleged they defrauded TRICARE and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, in violation of the False Claims Act.  According to a former accountant for one of the pharmacies, DermaTran Health Solutions, LLC; Pharmacy Insurance Administrators, LLC; Legends Pharmacy; TriadRx; and Lake Side Pharmacy created a program to waive mandatory copays for beneficiaries of federal health insurers, overcharged the government for compounded pain creams, and traded out-of-network prescriptions with other pharmacies, which constituted a kickback.  USAO NDGA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  Compounding Pharmacy Fraud, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
													  Pharma Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 7, 2022

				 After over a decade on the run, Baron Matson of Australia has been sentenced to 5 years in prison, ordered to pay $4.3 million in restitution, and ordered to forfeit $1.3 million for deceiving investors in Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee over twenty years ago.  Matson had misrepresented to investors that he and his father, Roger Matson—both operating under the surname Bronstein—earned large sums of money by betting on horse races, and that a $75,000 investment ahead of the 2000 Melbourne Cup would be guaranteed, with any profits distributed to investors after.  However, the Matsons disappeared with all the funds shortly after the race.  Baron Matson was discovered living under an alias in 2015, and after lengthy litigation, was extradited to the U.S. to face prosecution.  USAO MDFL				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Financial and Investment Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 6, 2022

				 A man in Missouri who was convicted of committing healthcare fraud through various durable medical equipment companies has been sentenced to 3 years in prison and ordered to repay $7.5 million.  Jamie McCoy, who owned or operated AE Wellness LLC, Summit Medical Supply, Patriot Medical Supply, and DME Device Co., had worked in conjunction with marketing firms and a telemedicine doctor to cause fraudulent claims derived from illegal kickbacks to be submitted to Medicare and TRICARE.  After the scheme was discovered and McCoy and AE Wellness were suspended from further participation, two of McCoy’s associates opened the other companies to continue the fraud, while concealing McCoy’s role in the operation.  USAO EDMO				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medical Devices and DME, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 5, 2022

				 Quin Ngoc Rudin has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after causing more than $62 million in losses to the IRS and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) while on supervised release for another fraud scheme.  Through his California-based tax preparation business, Mana Tax Services, Rudin and his brother Thanh had filed a series of false PPP loan applications, with supporting false income tax returns, on behalf of professional athletes, small businesses, shell companies, and other business entities.  His actions caused over $19 million in losses to the IRS, and over $43 million in losses to the PPP.  USAO EDVA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Government Loan Programs, 
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 4, 2022

				 Sebastian Vachon-Desjardins, a Canadian man who participated in a ransomware attack that affected victims around the world—including companies, municipalities, emergency services, hospitals, law enforcement, school districts, and higher education institutions—has been sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $21.5 million; a restitution order will be issued at a later date.  According to the government, Vachon-Desjardin’s NetWalker ransomware had taken advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to specifically target organizations in the healthcare sector.  USAO MDFL				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Cybersecurity and Data Breaches, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 4, 2022

				 A rancher who was convicted of defrauding two food companies out of $244 million, in one of the largest fraud schemes ever prosecuted in the Eastern District of Washington, has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.  Cody Allen Easterday and his Easterday Ranches Inc. had entered into agreements with Tyson Foods and one other company, whereby the two food companies would advance Easterday funds for buying and raising cattle, then be repaid with interest after the cattle were slaughtered and sold.  Rather than buying and raising cattle, however, Easterday used the funds to cover losses incurred from commodity futures trading, benefit the ranch, and benefit himself.  Easterday also submitted false paperwork to the world’s largest financial derivatives exchange, the CME Group Inc., to exempt his ranch from certain position limits in live cattle futures contracts.  USAO EDWA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Financial and Investment Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 3, 2022

				 Medical sales representative Steven Monaco has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for orchestrating two fraud schemes that led to multimillion dollar losses to federal, state, and private health insurance plans.  In the first scheme, Monaco arranged for a doctor’s medical assistant to be placed on the payroll of a medical diagnostic laboratory in exchange for all of the doctor’s labwork.  In the second scheme, Monaco arranged for doctors to sign medically unnecessary prescriptions for expensive compounded medications, on behalf of patients they never evaluated, in exchange for illegal kickbacks.  Monaco received $36,000 from the first scheme and $350,000 from the second scheme, and caused over $4.6 million in losses to the insurance plans.  USAO NJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  Compounding Pharmacy Fraud, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Laboratory and IDTF, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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