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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
January 29, 2016

				 Arthur Budovsky, founder of Liberty Reserve, which billed itself as the Internet’s "largest payment processor and money transfer system," pleaded guilty to running a massive money laundering enterprise used by cybercriminals around the world to launder the proceeds of their illegal activity.  Budovsky specifically designed Liberty Reserve to help users conduct anonymous and untraceable illegal transactions and launder the proceeds of their crimes.  Before the government shut it down in May 2013, Liberty Reserve had more than 5 million user accounts worldwide and had processed millions of transactions.  Budovsky admitted to laundering more than $250 million in criminal proceeds.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Financial Institution Fraud, 
													  Money Laundering, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 29, 2016

				 U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Todd Dale Malaki was sentenced to 40 months in prison and pay a $15,000 fine and $15,000 in restitution for accepting bribes from foreign defense contractor Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) in exchange for classified U.S. Navy ship and submarine schedules and other internal Navy information.  While he was working as a supply officer for the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, Malaki began a corrupt relationship with Leonard Glenn Francis, the former president and CEO of GDMA, a company that provided port services to U.S. Navy ships and submarines throughout the Pacific.  As part of the scheme, Malaki provided Francis with classified U.S. Navy ship schedules and proprietary invoicing information about GDMA’s competitors in exchange for luxury hotel stays in Singapore, Hong Kong and the island of Tonga, as well as envelopes of cash, entertainment expenses and the services of a prostitute.  To date, 10 individuals have been charged in connection with this scheme.  DOJ  Just a day earlier, U.S. Navy Commander Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz pleaded guilty to participating in the same scheme.  DOJ				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 27, 2016

				 Mohammed Elsaleh, owner and operator of former Houston-area ambulance company National Care EMS agreed to settle allegations that he and the company provided kickbacks to various nursing facilities and hospitals in exchange for rights to the institutions’ more lucrative Medicare and Medicaid transport referrals.  The settlement calls for Elsaleh to pay $125,000 to resolve the “swapping” allegations made against him and the company.  Elsaleh’s brother, Husam Alsaleh, the owner and operator of a successor company also called National Care EMS agreed to pay $120,000 in furtherance of the settlement.  DOJ (SDTX)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 27, 2016

				 Milton Russ Barnhill was sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiring with others to defraud the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and the Farm Service Agency, both agencies of the United States, in connection with federal crop insurance claims and other federal taxpayer subsidies.  As charged, Barnhill produced crops which he sold in the names of others which he then reported on insurance claims that the crops were lost due to natural disasters.  He also placed crops and insurance policies into the names of conspirators to boost the amount of money he could collect on the insurance claims.  DOJ (EDNC)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Crop Insurance, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 27, 2016

				 Arizona developer and attorney John Keith Hoover was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a major investment and bankruptcy fraud in which he created nearly two dozen companies solicit money from Arizona and California investors for bogus real-estate developments.  Several investors were widows who gave Hoover control of the bulk of their estates based on his friendship with their families and because of the trust he developed as an attorney.  Hoover encouraged investors to liquidate retirement accounts, life-insurance policies, mutual funds and securities, and Social Security death benefits to fund their investments with him, and then used investor money to pay his living expenses.  When he ran out of money, he refinanced properties with false representations about salary, assets, liabilities, employment, and sources of down payments. Then, he and his wife filed bankruptcy while hiding assets.  DOJ (AZ)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Financial and Investment Fraud, 
													  Securities Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 15, 2016

				 Oceanside, California-based hospital Tri-City Medical Center agreed to pay $3,278,464 to resolve allegations it violated the Stark Law and False Claims Act by maintaining improper financial arrangements with community-based physicians and physician groups.  According to the government, Tri-City maintained 97 improper financial arrangements with physicians and physician groups, including with its former chief of staff.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Hospital Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 14, 2016

				 Nery Cowan, a consultant and Medicare biller for Greater Miami Behavioral Healthcare Center Inc., pleaded guilty in connection with a $63 million health care fraud and money laundering scheme.  Behavioral Healthcare is a now-defunct Miami-area partial hospitalization program (PHP) that purported to provide intensive treatment for severe mental illness.  Specifically, Cowan directed the payment of kickbacks to patient brokers and others in exchange for Medicare beneficiary referrals and admitted concealing the kickback payments to shell companies owned by “patient brokers” who, on behalf of Greater Miami, solicited Medicare beneficiaries from assisted living facilities, halfway houses and drug courts located throughout the Southern District of Florida.  Cowan and her co-conspirators disguised these monthly kickbacks as “outreach” or “marketing” payments through HNB-Stell Care Inc., a sham staffing company.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 12, 2016

				 Kentucky-based healthcare provider Kindred Healthcare, Inc. and its two RehabCare Group subsidiaries agreed to pay $125 million to resolve allegations of violating the False Claims Act by knowingly causing skilled nursing facilities to submit false claims to Medicare for rehabilitation therapy services that were not reasonable, necessary and skilled, or that never occurred at all.  According to the government, RehabCare’s policy has been to achieve the highest Medicare reimbursement level regardless of the clinical needs of its patients, resulting in the provision of unreasonable and unnecessary services to Medicare patients, and its skilled nursing facility customers submitting inflated bills to Medicare covering those services.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Janet Halpin, a RehabCare physical therapist and former rehabilitation manager, and Shawn Fahey, a RehabCare occupational therapist, under the qui tamprovisions of the False Claims Act.  They will receive a whistleblower award of nearly $24 million from the government proceeds of the settlement.  Whistleblower Insider				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Medicare, 
													  SNF, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 12, 2016

				 Connecticut-based J&L Medical Services agreed to pay $600,000 to resolve allegations it violated the federal and state False Claims Acts.  J&L Medical is a durable medical equipment company that provides Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) and Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure (BiPAP) devices and accessories to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries who have been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea.  According to the government, the company regularly used the services of unlicensed technicians to provide respiratory therapy services to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, including setting up CPAP and BiPAP machines, fitting the patients with the masks used with those machines, and educating the patients about the use of the machines.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by John Hart, a former employee of J&L Medical and a licensed respiratory therapist, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  He will receive a whistleblower award of $102,000 from the proceeds of the government’s recovery.  DOJ (CT)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  FCA State, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Improper Medical Personnel, 
													  Laboratory and IDTF, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Medical Devices and DME, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 8, 2016

				 Dr. David G. Bostwick, owner of Virginia-based pathology lab Bostwick Laboratories Inc., agreed to pay up to $3.75 million to resolve charges of violating the False Claims Act for billing Medicare and Medicaid for medically unnecessary cancer detection tests and offering incentives to physicians to obtain Medicare and Medicaid business.  Specifically, Dr. Bostwick allegedly directed Bostwick Laboratories to bill Medicare and Medicaid for expensive cancer detection tests known as Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH) tests, as well as other tests, that were not medically necessary and were performed without the treating physicians’ consent or order.  FISH tests are used to detect bladder cancer.  Bostwick also allegedly offered various discounts and billing arrangements to treating physicians to induce them to refer business in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.  On Aug. 28, 2014, Bostwick Laboratories previously agreed to pay over $6.5 million to resolve the allegations in this lawsuit.  The allegations were originally raised in a whistleblower lawsuit brought by Michael Daugherty, who works in the industry, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  Daugherty will receive a whistleblower award of over $2.5 million from the government’s settlements.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Laboratory and IDTF, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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