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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 12, 2016

Four Texas companies pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a total of $3.5 million for criminal violations of the Clean Air Act at two oil and chemical processing facilities in Texas.  KTX Limited and KTX Properties Inc. negligently released hazardous air pollutants after a tank explosion at their chemical and petroleum processing facility, which killed one worker at the plant and severely injured two others.  And Crosby LP and Ramsey Properties LP failed to monitor leaks of ground-level ozone (smog) producing air pollutants at their chemical processing facility.  They also admitted that they falsified records and reports to EPA and the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality certifying the facility was complying with the permit requirements.  DOJ

October 7, 2016

Pilar Garcia Lorenzo, the owner of Tampa home health care agency Gold Care Home Health Services Inc., was convicted for her participation in a multimillion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme.  According to evidence presented at trial, Gold Care submitted millions of dollars’ worth of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for home health services that had never been provided and had not been legitimately prescribed by a physician resulting in $2.5 million in improper Medicare reimbursements.  DOJ

October 6, 2016

Valery Bogomolny, the owner of Los Angeles medical supply company Royal Medical Supply, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for his role in a scheme that fraudulently billed more than $4 million to Medicare.  According to evidence presented at trial, Bogomolny used his company to improperly bill Medicare for power wheelchairs, back braces and knee braces that were medically unnecessary, not provided to beneficiaries or both.  The evidence further showed that Bogomolny created false documentation to support his false billing claims, including creating fake reports of home assessments that never occurred.  DOJ

October 6, 2016

Detroit Diesel Corporation agreed to pay a $14 million penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act for selling heavy-duty diesel engines that were not certified by EPA and did not meet applicable emission standards.   Detroit Diesel also agreed to spend $14.5 million on projects to reduce nitrogen oxide and other pollutants, including replacing high-polluting diesel school buses and locomotive engines with models that meet current emissions standards.  DOJ

October 5, 2016

Louisiana accountant Christopher White was sentenced to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay roughly $2.8 million in restitution for his role in participating in and attempting to cover up a $50 million New Orleans-area Medicare fraud scheme.  According to admissions made in connection with his plea agreement, White coordinated the payment of illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters who canvassed the streets of New Orleans to collect Medicare numbers from elderly and disabled Medicare recipients.  When a grand jury subpoena was issued to certain companies, he and others fabricated and backdated tax and employment records to conceal the fact that illegal kickbacks were being paid to these recruiters.  DOJ

October 4, 2016

Arizona not-for-profit community health system Yavapai Regional Medical Center agreed to pay $5.85 million to resolve claims that it violated the False Claims Act by misreporting data about the hours worked by its employees on its annual cost reports, which improperly inflated the amount of money it received from the Medicare program.  According to the government, the artificially inflated wage index was used by the Medicare program when it calculated the amount of the payments it made to Yavapai.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Gregory Kuzma under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  Mr. Kuzma will receive a whistleblower award of $1.17 million from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (DAZ)

October 3, 2016

Major hospital chain Tenet Healthcare Corporation and two of its Atlanta-area subsidiaries, Atlanta Medical Center Inc. and North Fulton Medical Center Inc., agreed to pay over $513 million to resolve charges they violated the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback statute through illegal kickbacks it paid in exchange for patient referrals.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Ralph Williams under the qui tam provisions of the federal and Georgia False Claims Acts.  Mr. Williams will receive a whistleblower award of approximately $84 million from the proceeds of the federal and state civil recoveries.  DOJ

October 3, 2016

Salt Lake City-based mortgage lenders Primary Residential Mortgage Inc. and SecurityNational Mortgage Company agreed to pay $5 million and $4.25 million, respectively, to resolve separate allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Federal Housing Administration that did not meet applicable requirements.  DOJ

October 3, 2016

California orthopedic clinics Orthopedic Associates of Northern California, San Bernardino Medical Orthopaedic Group Inc. (doing business as Arrowhead Orthopaedics) and Reno Orthopaedic Clinic agreed to pay a combined $2.39 million to resolve federal and state False Claims Act allegations that they improperly billed federal and state health care programs for reimported osteoarthritis medications, known as viscosupplements.  According to the government, the clinics purchased deeply discounted viscosupplements that were reimported from foreign countries and billed them to state and federal health care programs in order to profit from the reimbursement system, when such reimported viscosupplements were not reimbursable by those programs.  The reimported products allegedly included labeling in foreign languages and in English for additional uses not approved in the United States.  The government further alleged there was no manufacturer assurance that the drugs had not been tampered with or that it was stored appropriately.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by a Senior Musculoskeletal Specialty Manager in the Biosurgery Division of Sanofi S.A.  The whistleblower will receive a whistleblower award of approximately $430,000 from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (EDCA)

September 30, 2016

Daniel Scott Goldman and his companies, Ecologic Industries LLC and OMNI SCM LLC, agreed to pay $1,525,000 to settle charges of violating the False Claims Act by making false statements to avoid paying duties on wooden bedroom furniture imported from China.  According to the government, the defendants misclassified or conspired with others to misclassify wooden bedroom furniture on documents presented to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to avoid paying antidumping duties on Chinese imports of wooden bedroom furniture.  Specifically, Goldman and his companies allegedly classified the furniture as office and other types of furniture not subject to duties while selling the furniture in the student housing market for use in dormitory bedrooms.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Matthew L. Bissanti, Jr. under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  Bissanti will receive a whistleblower award of $228,750 from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (WDTX)
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