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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 29, 2015

				 Warner Chilcott US Sales LLC, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical manufacturer Warner Chilcott PLC, agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of health care fraud as part of a global settlement in which Warner Chilcott agreed to pay $125 million to resolve its criminal and civil liability arising from illegally marketing the drugs Actonel, Asacol, Atelvia, Doryx, Enablex, Estrace and Loestrin in violation of the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute.  Specifically, the government charged that between 2009 and 2013, Warner Chilcott paid physicians to induce them to prescribe Warner Chilcott drugs.  The government also alleged that Warner Chilcott employees submitted false or misleading prior authorization requests and other coverage requests to federal health care programs for the osteoporosis medications Atelvia and Actonel.  The government further claimed that Warner Chilcott employees were instructed by members of the company’s management team to make unsubstantiated superiority claims when marketing the drug Actonel.  The allegations first arose in a whistleblower lawsuit by two former Warner Chilcott sales representatives filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  The whistleblowers will receive a whistleblower award of approximately $22.9 million from the federal share of the civil recovery.  Whistleblower Insider				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Pharma Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 28, 2015

				 Spokane, Washington resident Louis Daniel Smith was sentenced to 51 months in prison for selling industrial bleach as a miracle cure for numerous diseases and illnesses, including cancer, AIDS, malaria, hepatitis, Lyme disease, asthma and the common cold.  Evidence at trial showed that Smith operated a business called “Project GreenLife” through which he sold a product called “Miracle Mineral Supplement” over the Internet.  The product was really a mixture of sodium chlorite and water and sodium chlorite is an industrial chemical used as a pesticide, for hydraulic fracturing and for wastewater treatment, which cannot be sold for human consumption.  DOJ				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 28, 2015

				 Tri-Marine Management Co., Tri-Marine Fishing Management and Cape Mendocino Fishing agreed to pay $1.05 million in civil penalties and to perform fleet-wide inspections and other corrective measures to resolve claims stemming from an October 2014 oil spill in American Samoa and related violations of spill prevention regulations.  According to the government, the Tri-Marine companies are liable for the October 2014 oil spill from their 230-foot commercial tuna fishing vessel, the Capt. Vincent Gann, into Pago Pago Harbor in American Samoa and related violations of the Coast Guard’s spill prevention regulations.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Environmental Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 27, 2015

				 Arizona-based ocean carrier APL Limited, a wholly-owned American subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines Limited, agreed to pay $9.8 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act in connection with a Department of Defense contract to provide GPS tracking of shipping containers in Afghanistan.  The government contract required APL to affix a satellite tracking device to each shipping container transported from Karachi, Pakistan to U.S. military bases in Afghanistan.  According to the government, APL billed the DOD for tracking services despite knowing that the tracking devices completely or partially failed to transmit data, or were not affixed to shipping containers.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Contract Non-Compliance, 
													  Defense Contract Fraud, 
													  FCA Federal, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 26, 2015

				 Valentina Kovalienko, the owner of two Brooklyn medical clinics, pleaded guilty to, and agreed to forfeit almost $30 million for, her role in a $55 million health care fraud and money laundering conspiracy.  According to her admissions, from approximately February 2008 to February 2011, Kovalienko and others executed a scheme in which patients were paid cash kickbacks to subject themselves to medically unnecessary physical and occupational therapy, diagnostic tests and office visits that were not performed by licensed professionals, and for which the clinics billed Medicare and Medicaid.  Kovalienko also admitted that to support the fraudulent claims she paid occupational and physical therapists to falsify patient charts and billing records.  DOJ				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 22, 2015

				 Virginia-based hardwood flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators Inc. pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act through its illegal importation of hardwood flooring manufactured in China from timber illegally logged in far eastern Russia, in the habitat of the last remaining Siberian tigers and Amur leopards in the world.  Under the plea agreement, Lumber Liquidators will pay $13.15 million, the largest financial penalty ever for timber trafficking under the Lacey Act and one of the largest Lacey Act penalties ever.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Environmental Fraud, 
													  Wildlife Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 20, 2015

				 Paris-based Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, owned by Crédit Agricole S.A. and which operates in over thirty countries, agreed to pay $787.3 million in criminal and civil penalties for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading With the Enemy Act.  Between August 2003 and September 2008, Crédit Agricole subsidiaries in Geneva knowingly moved approximately $312 million through the US financial system on behalf of sanctioned entities located in Sudan, Burma, Iran and Cuba.  To facilitate these illegal transactions, these subsidiaries used deceptive practices which prevented the government, Crédit Agricole’s New York branch and other US financial institutions from filtering for, and consequently blocking or rejecting, the sanctioned payments.  Whistleblower Insider				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 19, 2015

				 Millennium Health (formerly Millennium Laboratories) agreed to pay $256 million to the federal and state governments to resolve charges it billed Medicare for medically unnecessary urine drug and genetic testing.  According to the government, Millennium caused physicians to order excessive numbers of urine drug tests, in part through the promotion of “custom profiles,” which instead of being tailored to individual patients were in effect standing orders that caused physicians to order large number of tests without an individualized assessment of each patient’s needs.  The government further alleged that Millennium’s provision of free point of care urine drug test cups to physicians — expressly conditioned on the physicians’ agreement to return the urine specimens to Millennium for hundreds of dollars’ worth of additional testing — violated the Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute.  The case originated from several whistleblower lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  Whistleblowers in the underlying cases will receive awards totalling roughly $32 million.  DOJ GA , FL, WA				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 16, 2015

				 The US resolved for $4 million a False Claims Act action against the estate and trusts of the late Layton P. Stuart, former owner and president of One Financial Corporation, and its subsidiary, One Bank & Trust N.A., both based in Little Rock, Arkansas.  According to the government, Stuart and One Financial violated the False Claims Act by making false statements about the financial condition of One Financial and One Bank to induce the Department of the Treasury to invest Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds in One Financial.  Stuart allegedly diverted One Bank funds for personal use, including his purchase of luxury vehicles for his wife and children.  He was terminated from One Bank in September 2012. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Financial and Investment Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 16, 2015

				 South Carolina-based Tuomey Healthcare System agreed to pay $72.4 million to settle charges of violating the False Claims Act by billing Medicare for services referred by physicians with whom the hospital had improper financial relationships.  Under the settlement, Tuomey also will be sold to Palmetto Health, a multi-hospital healthcare system based in Columbia, South Carolina.  According to the government, Tuomey violated the Stark law by entering into contracts with 19 specialist physicians that required them to refer their outpatient procedures to Tuomey in exchange for compensation that far exceeded fair market value and included part of the money Tuomey received from Medicare for the referred procedures.  The settlement follows a jury trial where the court entered judgement against Tuomey for more than $237 million.  The case arose from a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Dr. Michael K. Drakeford, an orthopedic surgeon who was offered, but refused to sign, one of the illegal contracts.  Dr. Drakeford will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $18.1 million from the settlement.  Whistleblower Insider				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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