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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
June 10, 2022

				 A doctor who allegedly submitted claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal for unperformed procedures, services, and tests, in violation of the California and federal False Claims Acts, has agreed to pay $9.5 million to resolve a civil suit.  The qui tam case by Minas Kochumian’s former medical assistant Elize Oganesyan, and former IT consultant Damon Davies, alleged that claims for treatment of osteopathic issues that were submitted over a six year period were false.  The settlement includes $5.5 million that Kochumian already paid as criminal restitution in a separate case in the Central District.  As part of the civil settlement, Oganesyan and Davies will share a $1.75 million award.  CA AG; USAO EDCA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  FCA State, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 10, 2022

				 Steward Health Care System LLC and related entities will pay $4.7 million to resolve allegations of False Claims Act violations involving improper financial and referral arrangements between SHC and physician practices. Steward Good Samaritan Medical Center, Inc., contracted with Brockton Urology Clinic to administer a Prostate Cancer Center of Excellence at SGSMC. SGSMC paid BUC throughout the agreement as compensation for sending referrals to SGSMC. The investigation revealed other such arrangements between Steward and physician practices. The conduct was exposed by whistleblowers, who filed under the FCA’s qui tam provisions. The relators will receive 17% of the recovery. USAO MA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Government Investigation, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Hospital Fraud, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 6, 2022

				 SNAP Diagnostics LLC, along with its founder, Gil Raviv, and vice president, Stephen Burton, will pay a combined $3.925 million to settle allegations of False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute violations. SNAP routinely submitted claims for Medicare and TRICARE patients’ second and third nights of home sleep testing, when patients with private health insurance were routinely billed only for the first night. Additionally, SNAP multiplied copays from senior citizen Medicare beneficiaries, and incentivized physicians to refer their patients for sleep testing services. USAO NDIL				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Laboratory and IDTF, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 3, 2022

				 Rodney L. Yentzer will pay $900,000 for violating the False Claims Act. Through Pain Medicine of York, a group of clinics he controlled, Yentzer caused the submission of false claims for payment to Medicare for urine drug tests that were not medically reasonable or necessary and were not used to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. He is excluded from participation in all federal health care programs for 22 years. In March of 2022, Yentzer pleaded guilty to Health Care Fraud, Money Laundering, and Theft of Public Money for defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services between 2016 and 2020. USAO MDPA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Laboratory and IDTF, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 3, 2022

				 FCA US LLC, formerly Chrysler Group LLC, has pleaded guilty to making false and misleading representations about emissions control systems on Jeep Grand Cherokees and Ram 1500s for the 2014-2016 model years.  The company will pay a criminal fine of nearly $100 million, and forfeit over $200 million, for a total of $300 million in penalties.  Fiat Chrysler marketed the vehicles as “clean EcoDiesel,” but installed software features to fraudulently help the vehicles meet emissions standards during testing that could not be met under normal driving conditions.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  Environmental Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 2, 2022

				 Middle Georgia Family Rehab (MGFR) has been ordered to pay $9.6 million in damages after a judge for the Middle District of Georgia found the facility had fraudulently billed TRICARE and Medicaid.  In an April order granting partial summary judgment, the Court determined that approximately 800 claims submitted to federal healthcare programs were billed under therapists who were not employed at MGFR at the time of alleged service.  USAO MDGA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 2, 2022

				 Aerospace company Numet Machining Techniques, LLC and related entities have agreed to pay $5.2 million after voluntarily disclosing to the government that Numet, which had certified itself as a small business concern, had affiliations with other businesses that, the government alleged, made it ineligible for 22 small business set-aside contracts that it had been awarded during the relevant time period.  USAO CT				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Government Procurement Fraud, 
													  Set-Asides and Preferences, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 1, 2022

				 Behavioral health provider Healthkeeperz, Inc. has agreed to pay $2.1 million to resolve allegations that it falsely billed North Carolina’s Medicaid program for services that were not covered.  The allegations arose from a lawsuit filed by Ginger Hill under the qui tam provisions of the federal False Claims Act and the North Carolina False Claims Act.  USAO WD NC; NC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  FCA State, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 1, 2022

				 Caris Life Sciences, Inc. will pay $2.9 million to resolve claims that it falsely billed Medicare for laboratory tests to detect the activity of certain genes within a tumor that predicted the risk of recurrence by fraudulently circumventing Medicare’s 14-day rule, which, during the relevant time period, prohibited laboratories from separately billing Medicare for tests performed on specimens if a physician ordered the test within 14 days of the patient’s discharge from a hospital stay.  By submitting separate claims for the laboratory tests, Medicare paid twice for the same service, first to the hospital as part of the hospital’s lump-sum DRG payment, and in a direct payment to Caris.  Caris allegedly discouraged providers from ordering testing within 14 days of discharge, or canceled and re-submitted orders to avoid the 14 day window.  The settlement covers two separate whistleblower actions.  USAO EDNY				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anonymity, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Laboratory and IDTF, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 25, 2022

				 Twitter will pay $150 million in civil penalties and implement new compliance measures to settle allegations of FTC Act violations by misrepresenting how it would deploy users’ nonpublic contact information, affecting more than 140 million Twitter users. From 2013 to 2019, Twitter collected users’ telephone numbers and email addresses under the guise of account security protocols, while concealing their secondary use of this information to help companies send targeted ads to consumers, which thereby increased Twitter’s primary source of revenue. In addition to the monetary penalty, Twitter is required to implement a new privacy and information security program and comply with numerous other reporting and record-keeping requirements. DOJ, USAO NDCA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Cybersecurity and Data Breaches, 
													  Misrepresentations, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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