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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 3, 2021

				 A Department of Energy (DOE) prime contractor responsible for cleaning up a decommissioned nuclear production complex in Washington State has agreed to pay over $3 million to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations involving false and fraudulent small business subcontract reports.  Whistleblower Salina Savage and her company, Savage Logistics LLC, had alleged that CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) knowingly misrepresented two of its subcontractors, Indian Eyes, LLC and Phoenix-ABC A Joint Venture, as businesses located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones) in order to meet contract requirements and obtain reimbursements totaling hundreds of millions of dollars from DOE.  As a result of bringing a successful enforcement action, Savage and her company will receive a relator’s share of approximately $865,000.  USAO EDWA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Government Procurement Fraud, 
													  Set-Asides and Preferences, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 3, 2021

				 A man in Kansas, Christopher Matthew Meredith, has been ordered to spend 14 years in prison and pay over $6.8 million in restitution for defrauding investors to his company, Strategic Pharma, Inc. (SPI).  In addition to failing to disclose that he was under investigation for an investment fraud scheme in Florida, Meredith had falsely represented to investors that SPI had entered into lucrative agreements, including with the Department of Veterans Affairs, that would result in substantial revenue for SPI.  USAO WDTX				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 2, 2021

				 Pennsylvania-based fuel distributor Naughton Energy Corporation and two of its owners, Mariette and Joseph Naughton, have agreed to pay $692,000 over the next five years to settle claims of causing false claims to be submitted to the Department of Transportation (DOT).  As a subcontractor on the federally funded New NY Bridge Project, Naughton Energy, a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), had represented to the prime contractor that it could deliver fuel to the worksite wholly independently.  However, lacking the requisite vehicle and employees to deliver fuel, and without the knowledge of the prime contractor, Naughton Energy arranged for a non-DBE subcontractor to supply the missing components in exchange for half of its profits from the project.  USAO SDNY				 					 

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

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 28, 2021

				 Erik Santos of Georgia was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison following his guilty plea on healthcare fraud charges.  Santos conspired with Florida compounding pharmacy Patient Care America and others to recruit Tricare beneficiaries to fill prescriptions for expensive, supposedly tailor-made, compounded medications that consisted of little more than common pain or scar creams, but came with price tags as high as $10,000-$15,000 per month.  The beneficiaries did not need the medications, which had little to no therapeutic value, and Santos secured the prescriptions by paying doctors, who had not actually seen the beneficiaries, to approve pre-printed prescriptions for large amounts of these medications.  Santos’s fraudulent referrals caused an actual loss to the Tricare program of approximately $12 million.  PCA pharmacy paid Santos over $7 million in prescription referral kickbacks.  In addition to the prison sentence, the Court imposed restitution in the amount of $11.8 million and entered a forfeiture judgement of approximately $7.6 million.  USAO SD FL				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Compounding Pharmacy Fraud, 
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Other Government Health Programs, 
													  Pharma Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 27, 2021

				 Bank Julius Baier & Co. Ltd. (BJB), a Swiss bank with international operations, will pay $79 million in penalties and enter into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement to resolve a criminal investigation into the bank’s involvement in a money laundering conspiracy that fueled an international soccer bribery scheme.  BJB admitted that it conspired to launder over $36 million in bribes through the United States to soccer officials with FIFA and other federations, in furtherance of a scheme in which sports marketing companies bribed soccer officials in exchange for broadcasting rights to soccer matches.  BJB’s Anti-Money Laundering controls failed to detect or prevent the money laundering, despite knowing that certain client accounts were associated with international soccer, which was generally understood to involve high-corruption risks.  A BJB executive directed that the opening of these accounts be fast-tracked in the hope that the clients would provide lucrative business.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Bribery and Bid-Rigging, 
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  Money Laundering, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 27, 2021

				 Navistar Defense LLC, a manufacturer of military vehicles, will pay $50 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that it fraudulently induced the U.S. Marine Corps to enter into a contract modification at inflated prices for a suspension system for armored vehicles known as Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.  During negotiations for the modification, Navistar was asked to provide certain sales information to assess the reasonableness of Navistar’s proposed prices.  The U.S. alleged that Navistar provided the government with fraudulent sales invoices to justify the company’s prices, and that the government relied on these invoices during negotiations.  The investigation was initiated by a qui tam complaint filed by whistleblower Duquoin Burgess, a former Government Contracts Manager for Navistar, who will receive $11,060,000 from the settlement.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Defense Contract Fraud, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Government Procurement Fraud, 
													  Pricing Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 26, 2021

				 Nurse practitioner Trivikram Reddy was sentenced to 20 years in prison following his guilty plea on healthcare conspiracy and wire fraud charges.  Reddy stole the identities of six physicians to submit fraudulent bills to Medicare and private insurers including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and Cigna. When federal agents began their investigation, Reddy took steps to manufacture medical records to support his fraudulently-submitted bills, and diverted millions of dollars in proceeds of the fraud to himself.  In addition to the prison sentence, Reddy was ordered to pay more than $52 million in restitution.  USAO ND TX				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 26, 2021

				 A licensed insurance broker, Tarek Abou-Katwa, was sentenced to 70 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield of more than $3.8 million.  According to evidence presented at trial, Mr. Abou-Katwa created fictitious employees and altered years of birth of actual employees to lower the average age of insured groups and fraudulently obtain lower insurance premiums.  He then inflated the rates charged to clients and pocketed the difference, which was in excess of $3.6 million.  When audited, he created false sense reports and other documents.  Mr. Abou-Katwa will also pay $3.8 million in restitution and forfeit $8.4 million.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 26, 2021

				 HEAG Pain Management Center, P.A. (HEAG) and its owner, Dr. Kwadwo Gyarteng-Dakwa (Dr. Dakwa), have agreed to pay $500,000 to settle allegations of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid.  According to the government, the defendants knowingly submitted or caused the submission of claims for medically unnecessary diagnostic testing between 2011 and 2016.  AG NC; USAO MDNC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Improper Medical Personnel, 
													  Lack of Medical Necessity, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Medicare, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 25, 2021

				 Upper Allegheny Health System (UAHS), which operates dental clinics in New York and Pennsylvania, has agreed to pay $2.7 million to resolve whistleblower-brought allegations of submitting false claims to Medicaid in violation of the federal and New York False Claims Acts.  Between 2010 and 2015, UAHS had billed Medicaid for dental services performed using improperly sterilized handpieces, which are considered semi-critical devices and need to be properly heat sterilized between patients.  AG NY; USAO WDNY; USAO WDPA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  FCA State, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Medical Devices and DME, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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