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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
February 10, 2016

				 An Oklahoma jury convicted Antonella Carpenter, former owner of purported cancer treatment clinic Lase Med Inc., of committing a fraudulent scheme claiming to cure patients’ cancer.  According to the evidence, Carpenter, who is a physicist and not a medical doctor, orchestrated a scheme to obtain money from cancer patients by means of false and fraudulent representations, including claiming to cure various kinds of cancers, when in fact, she would inject a patient’s tumor with a mixture consisting of saline solution and food coloring or walnut hull extract.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
February 9, 2016

				 Miami physician Henry Lora, medical director of Miami-area clinic Merfi Corporation, pleaded guilty for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme that caused more than $20 million in losses.  Lora admitted that in exchange for kickbacks and bribes, he and his co-conspirators wrote prescriptions for home health care and other services for Medicare beneficiaries that were not medically necessary or not provided.  Lora and his co-conspirators also falsified patient records to make it appear as if the beneficiaries qualified for these services.  In March 2014, Isabel Medina, the owner of Merfi, was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
February 9, 2016

				 A federal jury convicted registered nurse Patricia McGill of four counts of health care fraud.  McGill was the director of professional services for Home Care Hospice, a for-profit business that provided hospice services for patients at nursing homes, hospitals and private residences.  According to the evidence, McGill authorized and supervised the admission of inappropriate and ineligible patients for hospice services, which contributed to HCH submitting millions of dollars in fraudulent claims to Medicare.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Home Health and Hospice, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
February 5, 2016

				 HSBC Bank USA agreed to pay $470 million settle charges of mortgage origination, servicing and foreclosure abuses.  According to the government, "the agreement is part of our ongoing effort to address root causes of the financial crisis."  The settlement parallels the $25 billion National Mortgage Settlement reached in February 2012 between the federal government, 49 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia’s attorney general and the five largest national mortgage servicers, as well as the $968 million settlement reached in June 2014 between those same federal and state partners and SunTrust Mortgage.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Financial and Investment Fraud, 
													  Financial Institution Fraud, 
													  Housing and Mortgage Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
February 4, 2016

				 Zurich-based Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. agreed to pay $547 million to settle charges of conspiring with many of its U.S. taxpayer-clients and others to help U.S. taxpayers hide from the IRS billions of dollars in offshore accounts and evade U.S. taxes on the income earned in those accounts.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Abusive Tax Shelters, 
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
February 3, 2016

				 Upstate New York construction company ING Civil, Inc. and three individuals -- ING owner Corey Ingerson; James Beaudoin, former president of Rexford Albany Municipal Supply Company, Inc. (RAMSCO); and former RAMSCO salesman John Leary -- agreed to pay $1,012,000 to resolve claims that they defrauded a government program designed to benefit women- and minority-owned contractors.  DOJ (NDNY)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Government Procurement Fraud, 
													  Set-Asides and Preferences, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
February 2, 2016

				 Colorado-based construction management company MCC Construction Company agreed to pay $1,769,294 in criminal penalties and forfeiture for conspiring to commit fraud on the United States by illegally obtaining government contracts that were intended for small, disadvantaged businesses.  According to court documents, MCC conspired with two companies that were eligible to receive federal government contracts set aside for small, disadvantaged businesses with the understanding that MCC would, illegally, perform all of the work.  In so doing, MCC was able to win 27 government contracts worth over $70 million from 2008 to 2011.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Government Procurement Fraud, 
													  Set-Asides and Preferences, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
February 2, 2016

				 New Jersey industrial pipe supply company American Pipe Bending and Fabrication Co. Inc. and its owner Andrew Martingano were sentenced to 32 months in prison and to pay a $150,000 criminal fine and $1.6 million in restitution for conspiring to commit fraud and pay bribes to a purchasing manager at Consolidated Edison of New York in return for the manager’s efforts to steer contracts to the company.  According to court documents, Martingano and others agreed to pay approximately $510,000 in cash bribes to James M. Woodason, a department manager of the Con Ed purchasing department.  In exchange, Woodason steered Con Ed industrial pipe supply contracts to American Pipe by secretly providing Martingano with confidential competitor bid information, thereby causing Con Ed to pay higher, non-competitive prices for materials.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Bribery and Bid-Rigging, 
													  Government Procurement Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
February 1, 2016

				 Florida-based military contractor Centerra Services International Inc. (formerly known as Wackenhut Services) agreed to pay $7.4 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by double billing and inflating labor costs on its firefighting and fire protection services contract with the Army in Iraq.  According to the government, Wackenhut inflated its labor costs by billing the salaries of certain managers as direct costs when those salaries had already been charged as indirect costs.  The government further charged that Wackenhut artificially inflated its labor rate by counting its costs for holidays, vacation, sick leave, rest and recuperation and other variable labor costs twice in calculating the rate.  The allegations first arose in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Gary W. Reno under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  He will receive a whistleblower award of $1,332,000 as his share from the government’s recovery.  Whistleblower Insider				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Defense Contract Fraud, 
													  Falsifying Invoices, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 29, 2016

				 Amalya Cherniavsky and her husband Vladislav Tcherniavsky, the former owner and former operator of California-based durable medical equipment supply company JC Medical Supply were sentenced  for their roles in a $1.5 million Medicare fraud scheme.  They were ordered to pay $614,418 in restitution and Tcherniavsky was ordered to serve 51 months in prison.  The evidence at trial demonstrated that they paid illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters in exchange for patient referrals and paid kickbacks to physicians for fraudulent prescriptions—primarily for expensive, medically unnecessary power wheelchairs—which the defendants then used to support fraudulent bills to Medicare.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medical Devices and DME, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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