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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 30, 2015

				 Maxim Chukharev, former information technology manager for Liberty Reserve, a company that operated one of the world’s most widely used digital currency services, was sentenced to 36 months in prison for conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. According to the government, Liberty Reserve billed itself as the Internet’s “largest payment processor and money transfer system” but instead was created, structured and operated to help users conduct illegal transactions anonymously and launder the proceeds of their crimes. According to court records, before being shut down by the government in May 2013, Liberty Reserve conducted approximately 55 million transactions through its system totaling more than $6B in funds which encompassed suspected proceeds of credit card fraud, identity theft, investment fraud, computer hacking, child pornography, narcotics trafficking and other crimes.DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Money Laundering, 
													  Regulatory Violations, 
													  Securities Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 30, 2015

				 Pharmaceutical company Laclede Inc. and its president Michael A. Pellico entered into a consent decree of permanent injunction concerning the distribution of unapproved over-the-counter vaginal drug products sold under the name Luvena Prebiotic. According to the government, Laclede’s sale and distribution of the Luvena Prebiotic products violated various provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because they did not have the required FDA approval. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Off-Label and Unapproved Use, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 29, 2015

				 Four South Florida residents were sentenced in connection with a long-running $6.2M Medicare fraud scheme involving Professional Medical Home Health LLC, a Miami home health care agency operated for the purpose of billing the Medicare program for expensive physical therapy and home health services that were not medically necessary or actually provided. Dennis Hernandez was sentenced to 120 months in prison and to pay $1,438,186; Jose Alvarez was sentenced to 120 months in prison and to pay $2,972,570; Joel San Pedro was sentenced to 97 months in prison and to pay $4,938,432; Alina Hernandez was sentenced to 24 months in prison and to pay $204,526.05. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Home Health and Hospice, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 28, 2015

				 Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, a scientist formerly employed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for violating the Atomic Energy Act by communicating classified nuclear weapons data to a person he believed to be a Venezuelan government official. DOJ				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 27, 2015

				 Japanese-based auto parts manufacturer Sanden Corp. agreed to plead guilty and pay a $3.2M criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition for the purchase of compressors used in air conditioning systems sold to Nissan North America Inc. for installation in vehicles manufactured and sold in the US and elsewhere. Including Sanden, 33 companies have pleaded guilty for a total of more than $2.4B in fines. DOJ				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 26, 2015

				 Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling was convicted under the Espionage Act for illegally disclosing national defense information and obstructing justice in connection with his role in the CIA’s classified clandestine operational program designed to undermine the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Whistleblower Insider				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Defense Contract Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 26, 2015

				 Ramon Regueira, the owner and operator of a Miami home health care agency Nation’s Best Care Home Health Corp. was sentenced to 106 months in prison and to pay $21M for his participation in a $30M Medicare fraud scheme. Regueira admitted he and his co-conspirators operated Nation’s Best for the purpose of billing the Medicare program for, among other things, expensive physical therapy and home health care services that were not medically necessary or not provided. He further admitted he and his co-conspirators paid kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters who provided patients to Nation’s Best, as well as prescriptions, plans of care (POCs) and certifications for medically unnecessary therapy and home health services.DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Home Health and Hospice, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 26, 2015

				 Composite Engineering Inc., a Sacramento-based subsidiary of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions that manufactures remote-controlled subscale aircraft for the US. military, agreed to pay $2M to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by submitting inflated costs in connection with a 2007 Air Force contract. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Defense Contract Fraud, 
													  Falsifying Invoices, 
													  FCA Federal, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 26, 2015

				 Kentucky-based ambulance services company Lafferty Enterprises, LLC(d/b/a Trans-Star Ambulance Services) agreed to pay $948,000 to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act by billing federal health care programs for medically unnecessary services over the course of several years. According to the government, from February 2006 until December 2012, the company transported Medicare patients to and from dialysis clinics by ambulance when an ambulance transport was not medically necessary. The charges originated from a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Kevin Fairlie under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. He will receive a whistleblower award of $189,600. DOJ				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
January 23, 2015

				 A historic $5.15B settlement reached with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. andKerr McGee went into effect, allowing funds to be disbursed for cleanups across the country. It is the largest payment for the clean-up of environmental contamination ever obtained by the DOJ. According to Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, the recovery “will lead to cleanups across the country that will undo lasting damage to the environment, including contamination of tribal lands, by Kerr-McGee’s businesses.”DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Environmental Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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