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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
July 22, 2016

				 California-based medical device manufacturer Acclarent Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, agreed to pay $18 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by causing health care providers to submit false claims to Medicare and other federal health care programs by marketing and distributing its sinus spacer product known as the Relieva Stratus MicroFlow Spacer (Stratus) for use as a drug delivery device without FDA approval of that use.  The government further alleged that Acclarent marketed the Stratus as a drug delivery device even after the FDA rejected the company’s 2007 request to expand the approved uses for the Stratus.  On July 20, Acclarent’s former CEO William Facteau and former VP of Sales Patrick Fabian were convicted of introducing adulterated and misbranded medical devices into interstate commerce.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Melayna Lokosky under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  The whistleblower will receive an award of roughly $3.5 million from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medical Devices and DME, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 22, 2016

				 Preferred Imaging, LLC, a provider of diagnostic imaging services, agreed to pay $3,510,000 to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by improperly billing Medicare and Texas Medicaid for services performed without proper medical supervision.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by former Preferred Imaging employee Tracy Sifuentes.  She will receive a whistleblower award of $596,700 from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (NDTX)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Improper Medical Personnel, 
													  Laboratory and IDTF, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 20, 2016

				 Nishikawa Rubber Co. Ltd. agreed to plead guilty and pay a $130 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix the prices of and rig the bids for automotive body sealing products sold to Honda, Toyota, Subaru and certain of their subsidiaries and affiliates in the United States and elsewhere.  Automotive body sealing products consist of body-side opening seals, door-side weather-stripping, glass-run channels, trunk lids and other smaller seals, which are installed into automobiles to keep the interior dry from rain and free from wind and exterior noises.  DOJ				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 20, 2016

				 Enbridge Energy Limited Partnership and several related Enbridge companies agreed to pay $177 million to resolve claims stemming from its 2010 oil spills in Marshall, Michigan, and Romeoville, Illinois.  Enbridge has agreed to spend at least $110 million to prevent spills and improve operations across nearly 2,000 miles of its pipeline system in the Great Lakes region.  Enbridge will also pay civil penalties totaling $62 million for Clean Water Act violations.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Environmental Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 19, 2016

				 Ann Anyanwu, a registered nurse at Texas-based Medpsych Home Health Care, was convicted for participating in an $8 million Medicare fraud scheme involving fraudulent claims for home-health services.  According to the evidence, Anyanwu and others executed a scheme to submit to Medicare through Medpsych claims for home-health services to patients who did not receive them and did not qualify for them.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Home Health and Hospice, 
													  Medicare, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 15, 2016

				 A Minnesota federal court entered a permanent injunction against Kwong Tung Foods Inc. (dba Canton Foods) to prevent the distribution of adulterated noodles and sprouts.  The government charged the company with violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by preparing and packaging the company's food products under insanitary conditions.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FDA Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 14, 2016

				 Columbia University agreed to pay $9.5 million to resolve charges it violated the False Claims Act for improperly seeking and receiving excessive cost recoveries in connection with research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  According to the government, Columbia impermissibly applied its “on-campus” indirect cost rate, instead of the much lower “off-campus” indirect cost rate, when seeking federal reimbursement for 423 NIH grants where the research was primarily performed at off-campus facilities owned and operated by the State of New York and New York City.  The government further alleged Columbia failed to disclose to NIH that it did not own or operate these facilities and that Columbia did not pay for use of the space for most of the relevant period.  The allegations originated with a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  The whistleblower will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (SDNY)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Grant and Research Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 14, 2016

				 Jeffrey Robert Bonner of Sacramento, Cody Trevor Burgsteiner of Houston, and Darra Lee Shephard of Calgary, pleaded guilty for their roles in a $9 million “sweepstakes fraud” scheme to defraud hundreds of U.S. residents, many of them elderly.  As part of their guilty pleas, they each admitted that they worked in a call center in Costa Rica, which Bonner owned, where they placed telephone calls to U.S. residents, falsely informing them that they had won a substantial cash prize in a “sweepstakes” for which they had to pay a purported “refundable insurance fee.”  DOJ				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 14, 2016

				 David Samson, former New Jersey Attorney General and the former chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, pleaded guilty to bribery for using his official authority to pressure the parent company of United Airlines to institute a non-stop flight from Newark, New Jersey, to South Carolina for his personal benefit.  DOJ				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 13, 2016

				 Minnesota-based provider of hospice care Evercare Hospice and Palliative Care agreed to pay $18 million to resolve charges it violated the False Claims Act by claiming Medicare reimbursement for hospice care for patients not eligible for such care because they were not terminally ill.  Specifically, the government alleged that Evercare’s business practices were designed to maximize the number of patients for whom it could bill Medicare without regard to whether the patients were eligible for and needed hospice.  The allegations originated in whistleblower lawsuits filed by former employees of Evercare under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  They will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the proceeds of the government’s recovery.  Whistleblower Insider				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Home Health and Hospice, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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