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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 17, 2014

				 The Justice Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and virtually every state attorney general in the country, reached a $968M settlement with SunTrust Mortgage Inc., the mortgage lending arm of SunTrust Bank, to resolve charges of mortgage origination, servicing, and foreclosure abuses.Whistleblower Insider				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Housing and Mortgage Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 13, 2014

				 Gwendolyn Climmons-Johnson, the owner and operator of Urgent Response EMS, a Houston area ambulance company, was sentenced to 97 months in prison and to pay roughly $1M for her role in a $2.4M Medicare fraud scheme. In October she had been convicted by a federal jury in Houston of four counts of health care fraud. According to evidence presented at trial, from January 2010 through December 2011, Climmons-Johnson and others conspired to enrich themselves by submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for ambulance services that were medically unnecessary and/or not provided. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 3, 2014

				 Iowa-based egg producer Quality Egg pleaded guilty to, and agreed to a $6.8M fine for, bribing USDA food safety inspectors and violating food safety rules which ultimately led to a nationwide salmonella outbreak in 2010. If accepted by the court, it will be one of the largest payments ever made related to food safety. Quality Egg’s owner, Jack DeCoster, and his son Peter, also pleaded guilty to one count of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. Whistleblower Insider				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 2, 2014

				 A federal jury convicted Michael Baker and Michael Gluk, the former CEO and former CFO of Texas-based medical device manufacturers ArthroCare Corp., for orchestrating a fraud scheme that resulted in shareholder losses of over $400M. Evidence at trial demonstrated that Baker and Gluk masterminded a scheme to artificially inflate sales and revenue through a series of end-of-quarter transactions involving several of ArthroCare’s distributors beginning in 2005 and continuing until 2009. Baker, Gluk and other ArthroCare employees determined the type and amount of product to be shipped to distributors based on ArthroCare’s need to meet Wall Street analyst forecasts, rather than distributors’ actual orders. ArthroCare then reported these shipments as sales enabling the company to meet or exceed internal and external earnings forecasts. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Accounting Fraud, 
													  Securities Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 28, 2014

				 Kentucky-based hospital King’s Daughters Medical Center agreed to pay $40.9M to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to the Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid programs for medically unnecessary coronary stents and diagnostic catheterizations. The government also alleged that several King’s Daughters physicians falsified medical records to justify these unnecessary cardiac procedures. Whistleblower Insider				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 22, 2014

				 An owner and operator of community mental health centers in Baton Rouge as well as a patient recruiter for a related facility in Houston were convicted for their roles in a $258M Medicare fraud scheme involving three facilities that filed fraudulent claims for psychiatric services that were unnecessary or never actually provided. The ongoing investigation into these three community mental health centers — Shifa Community Mental Health Center, Serenity Center and Shifa Community Mental Health Center — has so far resulted in the convictions of 17 employees of these facilities, including therapists, marketers, administrators, owners and the medical director. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 22, 2014

				 Zahir Yousafzai, the co-owner or operator of four Detroit-area home health agencies involved in a $13.8M Medicare fraud scheme was sentenced to serve 72 months in prison and pay $4.1M in restitution. According to court records, Yousafzai and his co-conspirators paid and directed the payment of various medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, physical therapists and physical therapist assistants, to create fictitious patient files to document purported home health services that were never provided. The healthcare companies involved included First Care Home Health Care, Moonlite Home Care, Physicians Choice Home Health Care and Quantum Home Care. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Home Health and Hospice, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 20, 2014

				 The DOJ announced it will require ConAgra Foods, Cargill, CHS Inc., and Horizon Milling to divest four competitively significant flour mills in order to proceed with the formation of Ardent Mills, a flour milling joint venture. The government said the divestitures are necessary to preserve flour milling competition in four regions of the country encompassing large cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis and the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area, resulting in more competitive prices for wheat flour purchasers and ultimately lower prices for consumers who purchase wheat flour-based products, such as bread, cookies and crackers. DOJ				 			
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 19, 2014

				 Credit Suisse pled guilty to criminal charges of conspiring to help thousands of US taxpayers evade taxes and agreed to pay fines and restitution amounting to $2.6 billion. It is the first big bank to plead guilty to illegal activity since Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1989. Whistleblower Insider				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Abusive Tax Shelters, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 19, 2014

				 Todd Farha, former CEO of WellCare, an operator of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in several states, was sentenced to serve 36 months in prison for defrauding the Florida Medicaid program. According to court records and evidence at trial, Farha and others orchestrated a scheme to defraud the Florida Medicaid program from the summer of 2003 through the fall of 2007 by making fraudulent statements relating to expenditures for behavioral health care services. Under a prior settlement with the government, WellCare was required to pay $80M in restitution and forfeitures. In a related civil qui tam case filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, Wellcare also paid $137.5M in civil fines and penalties. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Medicaid, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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