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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
June 16, 2016

				 Ohio-based GEO Specialty Chemicals Inc. pleaded guilty for its role in a conspiracy to eliminate competition involving contracts to supply liquid aluminum sulfate to municipalities and pulp and paper manufacturers in the United States.  The company admitted to conspiring to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers involving contracts for liquid aluminum sulfate, a coagulant used by municipalities to treat drinking and waste water, and by pulp and paper manufacturers in their manufacturing processes.  GEO was sentenced to pay a fine of $5 million.  DOJ				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 14, 2016

				 Erdal Kuyumcu, the CEO of New York-based Global Metallurgy LLC, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, in connection with the export of specialty metals from the United States to Iran.  Kuyumcu and others conspired to obtain over 1,000 pounds of the metallic powder from a U.S.-based supplier for export to Iran.  To hide the true destination of the goods from the U.S. supplier, Kuyumcu and a co-conspirator arranged for the metallic powder to be shipped first to Turkey and then to Iran.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Trade Agreements, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 13, 2016

				 Ubert Guillermo Rodriguez, former owner of Florida-based durable medical equipment maker G.R. Services Equipment & Supplies Inc., was sentenced to 37 months in prison and to pay $918,402 in restitution for his role in a multimillion-dollar health care fraud scheme in the greater Tampa, Florida, area.  Rodriguez admitted that from May 2013 through July 2013, his company submitted approximately $2.6 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare seeking reimbursement for durable medical equipment not legitimately prescribed by doctors and not provided to beneficiaries.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medical Devices and DME, 
													  Medicare, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 13, 2016

				 Oklahoma-based FedCare, LLC and its related entity The Broadway Clinic of Tulsa, LLC, agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle charges of violating the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to the Office of Workers Compensation Programs of the Department of Labor.  According to the government, FedCare and Broadway submitted claims for medical services furnished to federal employees of fourteen federal agencies that were false because they were either (1) billed at a higher rate than allowed or (2) not performed at all.  DOJ (WDOK)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 10, 2016

				 Amin al-Baroudi was sentenced to 32 months in prison for conspiring to export U.S.-origin goods from the United States to Syria in violation of sanctions imposed on Syria by the U.S. government.  According to court documents, Baroudi admitted that from at least December 2011 through March 2013 he and his co-conspirators exported U.S. tactical equipment to Syria for the purpose of supplying and arming Ahrar al-Sham and other insurgent groups in Syria whose stated goal is to overthrow the Assad government and install an Islamic state.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Trade Agreements, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 9, 2016

				 Raleigh, North Carolina-based specialty pharmacy Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which sells products used to treat various gastroenterology conditions, agreed to pay $54 million to settle charges it violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act by using its “speaker programs” as a mechanism to pay kickbacks to doctors to induce them to prescribe Salix drugs and medical devices.  Specifically, the government alleged Salix held sham speaker programs, frequently at high-end restaurants, where doctors were paid substantial honoraria purportedly to educate other doctors about a Salix product, but in reality spent little or no time discussing the product.  $16,578,000 of the settlement amount will go to the Medicaid programs of different states including Ohio.  The allegations originated in two whistleblower lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  The whistleblowers will receive a yet-to-be-determined award from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (SDNY), OH				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  FCA State, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 9, 2016

				 Ivan Dwight Brannan and David R. Nelson, a former agent and a former driver for a large national trucking company, were sentenced to prison for 48 months (and a $120,000 fine) and 24 months (and a $10,000 fine) for paying bribes to officials at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia, in order to obtain lucrative freight-hauling business.  The officials who they bribed, Mitchell Potts and Jeffrey Philpot, were previously sentenced to 10 years and 7 years in prison, respectively.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Bribery and Bid-Rigging, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 9, 2016

				 Wenxia Man was convicted of conspiring to export fighter jet engines, a drone and related technical data to China, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Trade Agreements, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 6, 2016

				 Genentech Inc. and OSI Pharmaceuticals LLC agreed to pay $67 million to resolve charges they violated federal and state False Claims Act by making misleading statements about the effectiveness of the cancer drug Tarceva.  According to the government, Genentech and OSI made misleading representations to physicians and other health care providers about the effectiveness of Tarceva when there was little evidence to show that Tarceva was effective to treat those patients unless they also (i) had never smoked or (ii) had a mutation in their epidermal growth factor receptor, which is a protein involved in the growth and spread of cancer cells.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Genentech employee Brian Shields under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  He will receive a whistleblower award of approximately $10 million out of the proceeds of the government’s recovery.  Whistleblower Insider GA, MA, OH				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Defective Products, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  FCA State, 
													  Off-Label and Unapproved Use, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 2, 2016

				 Aquatic Sensor Network Technology (Aquasent)and several of its officials and employees, namely Dr. Jun-Hong Cui, Dr. Yong Ma, Dr. Shengli Zhou, Dr. Zhijie Shi, and Juanjuan Liao, agreed to pay $400,000 to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act in the management of federally-funded grants awarded to Aquasent by the National Science Foundation.  DOJ (DCT)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Grant and Research Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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