1. Home
  2. Practices
  3. Whistleblower Representation
  4. Recent Government Enforcement
  5. DOJ Enforcement Actions
Have a Claim?

Click here for a confidential contact or call:

1-212-350-2774 
								
			


								
						
			


								
			

	
Whistleblower Quiz

	
Would you blow the whistle?

 Take our Quiz


									
	
						

		

			
			

				

					
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 16, 2015

				 Jonathan Leland Moore, former chief financial officer of Arrow Trucking Company, was sentenced to serve 35 months in prison for conspiring with James Douglas Pielsticker, former CEO and president of Arrow, to defraud the US by failing to account for and pay federal withholding taxes on behalf of Arrow and by making payments to Pielsticker outside the payroll system.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Employment Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 16, 2015

				 A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Amalya Cherniavsky and her husband, Vladislav Tcherniavsky, for conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with a $1.5 million Medicare fraud scheme.  The evidence at trial demonstrated that Cherniavsky owned JC Medical Supply, a purported durable medical equipment supply company, and that she co-operated the company with her husband, Tcherniavsky, and that they paid illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters in exchange for patient referrals.  The evidence further showed that the defendants 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, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medical Devices and DME, 
													  Medicare, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 15, 2015

				 Houston-based military contractor Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc. (KBR) was ordered to pay roughly $108,000 for violating the Anti-Kickback Act by accepting gifts and gratuities, including expensive dinners, golf outings and event tickets, from various sub-contractors while KBR was providing logistic services to the United States Army Operations Support Command contract known as LOGCAP III.  LOGCAP III was awarded to KBR for the provision of logistical support to the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan.  FBI				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 15, 2015

				 Shreveport, Louisiana community mental health center Westwood Mental Health LLC, and its parent company MedSouth LLC, agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute allegations that Westwood falsified patient records, billed for services not medically necessary, billed for services that were not rendered, provided bribes to Medicare beneficiaries who did not qualify for partial hospitalization services and provided bribes and/or kickbacks to employees to further or conceal the fraud.  DOJ (WDLA)				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 14, 2015

				 Santiago Borges, Erik Alonso and Cristina Alonso, all of Miami, pleaded guilty to federal healthcare fraud charges.  Borges owned the now-defunct mental health centers R&S Community Mental Health Inc. and St. Theresa Community Mental Health Center Inc., and was an investor in New Day Community Mental Health Center LLC .  Erik Alonso was the clinical director of all three centers.  Cristina Alonso was a therapist at R&S.  They admitted the clinics billed Medicare for costly partial hospitalization program services that were not medically necessary or not provided to patients.  Borges also admitted he paid kickbacks to patient recruiters who, in exchange, referred beneficiaries to the centers.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Hospital Fraud, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
													  Upcoding, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 14, 2015

				 Michael J. Mitrow Jr., former CEO and president of pharmaceutical marketing company Access Communications, was sentenced to three and one half years in prison and to pay $83,219 in restitution to the IRS and $1,468,259.43 to his former company for participating in a scheme in which he obtained more than $2 million in fraud and kickback proceeds.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 14, 2015

				 Chicago-based aerospace and defense industry giant Boeing Company agreed to pay $18 million to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims for labor charges on maintenance contracts with the US Air Force.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit brought by former Boeing employee James Thomas Webb under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  He will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $3 million from the government’s recovery.  Whistleblower Insider				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 13, 2015

				 Pitney Bowes Presort Services Inc. agreed to pay $9.4 million to settle charges it underpaid postage for mail processed at its Reading, Pennsylvania, facility by claiming discounts to which it was not entitled.  DOJ				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 9, 2015

				 Cincinnati-based West Chester Hospital and its parent company, UC Health, agreed to pay $4.1 million to settle allegations that West Chester Hospital violated the False Claims Act by billing federal health care programs for medically unnecessary spine surgeries.  The challenged surgeries were performed between 2009 and 2013 by Dr. Abubakar Atiq Durrani, a surgeon from Mason, Ohio, who had admitting privileges at West Chester Hospital and who was arrested in July 2013 but allegedly fled the country and remains a fugitive.  The allegations first arose in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former patients of Durrani under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  They will receive a whistleblower award of approximately $800,000 from the federal share of the settlement.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Hospital Fraud, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 8, 2015

				 Evelio Fernandez Penaranda, owner of Miami-based Naranja Pharmacy Inc., was sentenced to 46 months in prison and to pay $1,876,241 in restitution for his role in the submission of more than $1.8 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.  According to his guilty plea, Naranja Pharmacy submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare for prescription drugs not prescribed by physicians, not medically necessary and not provided to Medicare beneficiaries. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Pharma Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
1
…
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
…
254
								

						

					

												
		
 
	
 

 



	


	

		

			

								
							
Learn about Whistleblower Rewards Programs
			
	
		

		
	
			

									

													False Claims Act					  							State & Local False Claims Acts					  							SEC Program					  							CFTC Program					  							IRS Program					  					

								See More			
	
		

	
		

	




	


	

		

			

				

					

						
Newsletter

						
Subscribe to receive email updates from the Constantine Cannon blogs

					
	
				
	
			
	
			
	
				
Sign up for: