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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.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
July 19, 2023

				 Amazon.com Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary Amazon.com Services LLC have agreed to pay a $25 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that its voice assistant service Alexa violated the Federal Trade Commission Act, Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule.  Since at least May 2018, Amazon has retained indefinitely and by default voice recordings of children interacting with Alexa. The company also falsely represented that such recordings, including transcriptions and geolocation information, could be deleted by Alexa users, when in fact user deletion requests were not always honored.  As part of the settlement, Amazon will have to identify and delete inactive child profiles and notify users about its retention and deletion practices.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Cybersecurity and Data Breaches, 
													  Misrepresentations, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 14, 2023

				 Electronic health record technology vendor NextGen Healthcare Inc. has agreed to pay $31 million to resolve a whistleblower’s allegations that it misrepresented the capabilities of certain software and improperly induced users to recommend the software.  According to two users of the NextGen’s software, Toby Markowitz and Elizabeth Ringgold, the company allegedly violated the False Claims Act by concealing from a certifying entity that its technology lacked critical but required functions. Additionally, the company allegedly violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by giving credits worth up to $10,000 to customers whose recommendation of NextGen’s EHR software led to a new sale.  For launching a successful qui tam case, the whistleblowers will receive and share a $5.6 million share of the recovery.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  Electronic Health Records, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Whistleblower Case, 
													  Whistleblower Rewards, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 12, 2023

				 An attorney formerly employed at the SEC for over 14 years has been sentenced to 6 years in prison and ordered to pay almost $1.4 million in restitution for defrauding over 1,000 investors while on supervised release for an earlier offense. In 2010, after leaving the SEC, Phillip Offill of Texas was sentenced to 8 years in prison and 3 years of supervised release for participating in multimillion dollar pump-and-dump stock manipulation schemes.  In 2011, following a civil case brought by the SEC, he was permanently barred from participating in penny stock offerings.  In 2012, following another case by the SEC, he was permanently barred again.  Despite these obstacles, Offill still managed to conspire with others to misappropriate millions of shares of a publicly traded company and fraudulently market and pump up demand for the shares through false statements and documents.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Financial and Investment Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 11, 2023

				 Fertilizer manufacturer J.R. Simplot Company has agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil penalty and implement waste management measures valued at $150 million in order to resolve allegations of failing to properly identify and manage hazardous waste streams at its Idaho plant, in violation of multiple environmental protection laws, including the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; Clean Air Act; Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA); and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know ACT (EPCRA).  Some of the required measures include recovering and reusing certain waste byproducts, ensure proper containment of waste products, replacing aging cooler towers with cooling ponds that would reduce emissions, and fund environmental mitigation work.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Environmental Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 7, 2023

				 National Grid has agreed to pay $5.38 million in connection with the release of hazardous chemicals into soil and groundwater surrounding a former gas plant in Massachusetts.  The plant operated for a century, ending in 1952, and yielded toxic byproducts such as oils, sludges, and tars, which have gone on to contaminate natural resources in the area.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Environmental Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 6, 2023

				 Shipping company Clipper Shipping A.S. has been sentenced to pay $1.5 million after admitting that its ship, Motor Tanker (M/T) Clipper Saturn discharged oily bilge water directly overboard while anchored outside Togo, and omitted mention of it from its Oil Record Book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.  The ship was required to filter out hazardous elements before disposing of the water at sea.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Environmental Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 29, 2023

				 Three healthcare providers—Community Health Centers of the Central Coast, Cottage Health System, and Sansum Clinic—and a California public health agency, CenCal Health, have agreed to pay a total of $68 million to settle allegations of submitting false claims to the state’s Medicaid program, in violation of state and federal False Claims Acts.  The defendants allegedly took advantage of a federal expansion of Medi-Cal coverage for previously uninsured adults by submitting duplicative or unallowed claims.  CA AG; DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  FCA State, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medical Billing Fraud, 
													  Provider Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 29, 2023

				 Vantage Systems Inc. will receive $1.35 million for blowing the whistle on HX5 LLC, its owner and CEO Margarita Howard, and HX5 Sierra LLC for defrauding the SBA’s 8(a) business development program. Over a seven-year period, from 2015 through 2021, HX5 violated the False Claims Act by knowingly providing false information relating to their eligibility for federal set-aside contracts meant for small businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. HX5 and Howard secured 6 contracts by concealing Howard’s assets and failing to report distributions and payments to Howard’s family. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  FCA Federal, 
													  Set-Asides and Preferences, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 26, 2023

				 In the largest ever Post-9/11 GI Bill fraud case, co-conspirators Michael Bostock, Eric Bostock, and Philip Abod, through their VA-approved technical training school, California Technical Academy, defrauded the federal government out of nearly $105 million by making false and fraudulent representation to the VA. More specifically, from January 2012 through June 2022, the co-conspirators submitted falsified course completion records for enrolled veterans, including approved courses of study, class attendance, and grades. To conceal their fraud, they falsified veterans’ contact information so that when regulators called veteran-students to verify information, one of the three co-conspirators answered the line instead. DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Education Fraud, 
													  Government Programs Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 21, 2023

				 Skilled nursing facility Alta Vista Healthcare & Wellness Centre and its management company Rockport Healthcare Services have agreed to pay $3.8 million to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks to physicians to induce referrals of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to its center.  The violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, federal False Claims Act, and California False Claims Act were uncovered during a government investigation, and showed illegal kickbacks in the form of cash, gifts, and salaries paid from 2009 through 2019.  CA AG; DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Anti-Kickback and Stark, 
													  FCA Federal, 
													  FCA State, 
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Medicare, 
													  SNF, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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