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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
October 28, 2021

				 Rehab Authority, LLC, a physical therapy provider in Minnesota, has agreed to pay $4 million to resolve allegations by whistleblower Cami Lane that it violated the False Claims Act.  RehabAuthority clinics had allegedly submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and the Veterans Health Administration for one-on-one outpatient physical therapy that was not provided.  USAO MN				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 25, 2021

				 Curant, Inc., which owns pharmacies in Florida and Georgia, has agreed to pay $4.6 million to resolve allegations of paying kickbacks to a third-party marketer, waiving mandatory copays from patients, and overbilling TRICARE for compound pain and scar creams.  The alleged misconduct occurred between 2013 and 2015.  USAO NDGA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 22, 2021

				 Texas doctors Robert Wills and Brannon Frank, who previously operated Austin Pain Associates, will pay $3.9 million to resolve allegations that they billed federal and state healthcare programs for medically unnecessary urine drug tests that were performed at Austin Pain Associates’ in-house lab.  The investigation was initiated after a whistleblower complaint was filed by former Austin Pain Associates employees Jennifer Nuessner and Robert Hoffman; they will receive approximately $618,000 from the federal share of the settlements. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  FCA State, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Laboratory and IDTF, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 21, 2021

				 Boulder, Colorado nonprofit The Center for Severe Weather Research paid $2.4 million to resolve allegations of fraud in federal grants received from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and NOAA.  CSWR was alleged to have improperly requested drawdowns from federal grants for expenses it had not incurred, and to have improperly retained interest accrued on federal funds received but not yet needed.  In addition, two CSWR principles, Ling Chan and Joshua Wurman, agreed to pay $203,776 to resolve allegations that they improperly obtained payments for ineligible expenses, including rental payment for CSWR offices in their personal residence.  USAO CO				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Contract Non-Compliance, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Grant and Research Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 20, 2021

				 Following his conviction at trial, investment manager Shawn Baldwin has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison on investment fraud charges.  Baldwin, who had been previously disciplined by authorities, solicited investors with claims that overstated his credentials and misrepresented that their funds would be used to invest in stocks and other investment products.  In fact, Baldwin used most of the investors’ funds for his own personal benefit.  USAO ND IL				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  Financial and Investment Fraud, 
													  Misrepresentations, 
													  Ponzi Schemes, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 20, 2021

				 South Carolina provider Colonial Family Practice, LLC, has agreed to pay $1.25 million to resolve claims that they submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for medically unnecessary nuclear stress tests and Cystatin-C tests, the latter of which were routinely submitted as part of a panel run on most patients, despite being payable for only a narrow set of patients.  The settlements resolve two qui tam actions brought by a former clinical manager and by a former physician assistant.  USAO SC				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 20, 2021

				 MD Spine Solutions LLC, d/b/a MD Labs Inc., and its owners, co-founders Denis Grizelj and Matthew Rutledge, have agreed to pay up to $16 million to settle fraud allegations raised by an unnamed whistleblower.  MD Labs had allegedly billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare programs for presumptive urine drug testing as well as confirmatory urine drug testing run on the same samples, which is frequently baseless or useless.  USAO MA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 19, 2021

				 Credit Suisse Group AG, together with related subsidiaries, and VTB Capital plc will collectively pay more than $481 million to resolve charges related to the financing of hundreds of millions in loans to the government of Mozambique and an entity owned by that government, Empresa Moçambicana de Atum S.A. (EMATUM), which was formed to develop a tuna fishing project.  Credit Suisse, which pleaded guilty to defrauding investors and entered into a settlement agreement with the SEC, will pay nearly $475 million to U.S. and international authorities, as well as restitution to individual investors.  As part of its guilty plea, Credit Suisse admitted that it made material misrepresentations and omissions in statement to investors including about the planned use of loan proceeds; about $50 million in kickback payments to a Credit Suisse subsidiary and $150 million in bribes to government officials; about the existence and maturity dates of other loans to the government of Mozambique; about other red flags prior to and during the EMATUM financing; and about the risk of default.  In addition, the SEC charged that Credit Suisse violated the internal accounting controls and books and records provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Credit Suisse's payment consists of a $99 million payment to the SEC ($65 million as a penalty and $34 million in disgorgement and interest), a $247.52 million criminal monetary penalty to the U.S., with $175.6 million to be paid and the remaining to $47.2 million to be credited to related settlements, and $200.7 million to the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority.  In addition, Credit Suisse agreed to provide $200 million as debt relief to Mozambique. VTB will pay $6.4 million to resolve SEC charges that it mislead investors in a related bond offering structured by VTB Capital and Credit Suisse, which the SEC found failed to disclose the true nature of Mozambique's debt and the high risk of default on the bonds.  SEC; DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  FCPA, 
													  Financial and Investment Fraud, 
													  Misrepresentations, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 13, 2021

				 West Shore Pipe Line Co. and Buckeye Pipe Line Co., the owner and operator, respectively, of a crude oil pipeline located near Lockport, Illinois, will pay a $1.2 million civil penalty and $7.2 million in damages to resolve federal claims arising from a 2010 breach in the pipeline that discharged 1,800 barrels of oil into a protected wetland.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Environmental Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
October 8, 2021

				 U.S. Medical Management, LLC (USMM) and VPA, P.C. (VPA) have agreed to pay $8.5 million to resolve claims raised in five separate qui tam lawsuits that USMM and VPA billed Medicare for medically unnecessary laboratory and diagnostic testing services between 2010 and 2015.  Although the government did not join any of the lawsuits, the whistleblower who filed first will receive $1.53 million under the alternate remedy provision of the False Claims Act.  USAO EDMI				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Laboratory and IDTF, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Multiple Whistleblowers and First-to-File, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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