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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
September 18, 2014

				 Three patient recruiters were sentenced to prison for their participation in a $20 million health care fraud scheme involving defunct home health care company Trust Care Health Services. Estrella Perez was sentenced to 37 months and ordered to pay $1.2 million; Solchys Perez was sentenced to 30 months and ordered to pay $746,000; and Abigail Aguila was sentenced to 30 months and ordered to pay $491,000. According to court documents, Estrella Perez, Solchys Perez, and Aguila recruited patients for Trust Care, a Miami home health care agency, in exchange for kickbacks paid in cash or by check to the defendants or their shell companies. In turn, Trust Care billed the Medicare program for home health care and therapy services that were not medically necessary or were not provided. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Home Health and Hospice, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
September 17, 2014

				 Fort Lauderdale based home health care company A Plus Home Health Care, and its owners Tracy and Stephen Nemerofsky, agreed to pay $1.65 million to settle charges A Plus violated the False Claims Act by paying spouses of referring physicians for sham marketing positions to induce patient referrals. According to the government, the company allegedly hired at least seven spouses and one boyfriend of physicians to perform marketing duties but required them to do little if any real work. Their salaries instead were allegedly for the purpose of inducing and rewarding the physicians’ referrals of Medicare patients to A Plus. Whistleblower Insider				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Home Health and Hospice, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
September 16, 2014

				 Wesley Harlan Kingsbury, general manager of the Southern California ambulance company Alpha Ambulance Inc., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit Medicare fraud. According to court documents, Kingsbury conspired with Alex Kapri and Aleksey (Russ) Muratov, the owners of Alpha Ambulance, as well as the training supervisor Danielle Medina, to bill Medicare for ambulance transportation services for individuals that Kingsbury knew did not need to be transported by ambulance. In addition, he instructed emergency medical technicians that worked at Alpha Ambulance to conceal the true medical condition of patients they were transporting by altering requisite paperwork and creating false reasons to justify the transportation services. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
September 15, 2014

				 Episcopal Ministries to the Aging, a Maryland not-for-profit corporation that owns skilled nursing facilities, agreed to pay $1.3 million for submitting false claims to Medicare for unreasonable or unnecessary rehabilitation therapy purportedly provided by RehabCare Group East Inc., a subsidiary of Kindred Healthcare Inc. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  SNF, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
September 11, 2014

				 Hewlett-Packard subsidiary Hewlett-Packard Russia pleaded guilty to felony violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for bribing Russian government officials to secure a large technology contract with the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. According to the plea agreement, HP Russia executives created a multimillion dollar secret slush fund, at least part of which was used to bribe Russian government officials who awarded the company a contract valued at more than 35 million euros. HP Russia will pay a $58.8 million fine. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCPA, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
September 9, 2014

				 Don Langford, former chief credit officer and senior vice president of Nebraska-based TierOne Bank, pleaded guilty for his role in a scheme to defraud TierOne’s shareholders and regulators. Specifically, Langford conspired with others to hide losses at the bank by cooking the bank’s books and reporting falsified information to stakeholders, regulators, external auditors, and the investing public. The bank even made an unsuccessful attempt to get taxpayer TARP funds in November 2008. TierOne filed for bankruptcy shortly after the Office of Thrift Supervision shut the bank down in June 2010. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Accounting Fraud, 
													  Financial Institution Fraud, 
													  Securities Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
September 8, 2014

				 Cruz Sonia Collado, the owner and operator of now defunct home health care company Nestor’s Health Services was sentenced to 75 months in prison and ordered to pay $6.5 million in restitution for her participation in a $6.5 million Medicare fraud scheme under which she paid kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters in return for their providing patients to Nestor’s for home health care and therapy services that were medically unnecessary and, in many instances, not provided. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Home Health and Hospice, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
September 5, 2014

				 Life Care Services LLC, a manager of skilled nursing facilities based in Des Moines, Iowa, and CoreCare V LLP, doing business as ParkVista, a skilled nursing facility in Fullerton, California, agreed to pay a total of $3.75 million for causing the submission of false claims to Medicare for unreasonable or unnecessary rehabilitation therapy purportedly provided by RehabCare Group East Inc., a subsidiary of Kindred Healthcare Inc. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  SNF, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
September 4, 2014

				 A federal jury returned guilty verdicts against former Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell and former First Lady of Virginia Maureen G. McDonnell for participating in a scheme to violate federal public corruption laws. According to the government, McDonnell and his wife turned public service into a money-making enterprise, abusing the Commonwealth’s highest office to benefit a Virginia businessman in exchange for more than $170,000 in gifts and loans, including luxury items, designer clothes, free vacations and an offer to pay the costs of their daughter’s wedding. In return, McDonnell put the weight of the governor’s mansion behind the businessman’s corporate interests. DOJ				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
August 29, 2014

				 Former CEO of ArthroCare Corporation Michael Baker and former ArthroCare CFO Michael Gluk were sentenced to serve 20 years and 10 years in prison, respectively, for their leading roles in a $750 million securities fraud scheme. On June 2, 2014, they were convicted by a jury of wire fraud, securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud in connection with their scheme to artificially inflate the share price of ArthroCare stock through sham transactions. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Securities Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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