Certifications
This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to certifications as a basis for liability in whistleblower litigation. You may also be interested in our pages:
January 29, 2019
Two doctors and a health clinic owner in the Houston area have each been sentenced to decades in prison following their convictions for Medicare fraud. In one case involving three defendants—clinic owner Ann Shepherd, doctor John Ramirez, and Yvette Nwoko—Medicare paid over $17 million in fraudulent claims resulting from false certifications related to services not medically necessary or properly provided. Defendants Shepherd was sentenced to 30 years in prison, and ordered to pay $20 million; Ramirez was sentenced to 25 years in priosn and ordered to pay $26 million; Nwoko awaits sentencing. In a second case, related case, doctor Anh Do was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay almost $2 million in restitution on similar charges. DOJ 1; DOJ 2January 28, 2019
A producer of fish oil and fishmeal products, Omega Protein Corp., has agreed to pay $1 million to resolve allegations that when the company applied for a $10 million federal loan, it falsely certified that it was complying with federal environmental laws when, in fact, it was knowingly violating the Clean Water Act by discharging oil into U.S. waters. In 2013, the company pleaded guilty to criminal violations of the CWA. The civil settlement arises from a False Claim Act case filed by a former employee of Omega, Keland O. Harrison, who will receive $200,000 of the settlement proceeds. DOJSeptember 7, 2017
The Hartford Dispensary will pay $627,000 through a federal-state settlement to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by falsely certifying to federal and state officials that it had a current medical director that was performing his duties in accordance with federal and state law. In 2014, the Office of the Attorney General commenced an investigation after a whistleblower complaint about the Hartford Dispensary, a private nonprofit behavioral health organization; the investigation was followed by a qui tam lawsuit alleging various violations of the state and federal False Claims Act. The state’s investigation focused on services that Hartford Dispensary provides as an opioid treatment program – primarily methadone and detoxification services.June 29, 2017
Constantine Cannon associate Rosie Griffin quoted in the Bloomberg BNA article, Government Behavior Overtakes Conditions of Payment in FCA actions. Click here to read more.June 9, 2017
Eric Havian quoted in the Bloomberg article on the Supreme Court's Escobar decision, Growing Pains Remain One Year After Implied Certification Ruling. Click here to read the article.Ninth Circuit Applies Escobar, Dismisses Whistleblower Suit against Government Contractor
Posted 01/18/17
By Hallie Noecker
Last Thursday, the Ninth Circuit issued United States ex rel. Kelly v. Serco, Inc., the latest in a series of False Claims Act decisions—including in the First, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits—wrestling with the Supreme Court’s holding on materiality in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar. Citing Escobar’s “rigorous” and “demanding” materiality standard,...
Post-Escobar, Seventh Circuit Again Dismisses Suit Against For-Profit Educational Institution
Posted 11/18/16
By Hallie Noecker
Another federal circuit recently weighed in to apply the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar. Escobar was largely a victory for the United States and whistleblowers combatting fraud under the False Claims Act (FCA), resolving a split in the federal circuits by unanimously upholding implied false certification as a viable theory of FCA...
In Their Own Words — Stewart
Posted 04/20/16
-- The term "implied certification" is new. . . . But the concept that a person can be held liable for fraud even though he says nothing explicitly false but labors to create a false impression, that's been around for ages.
Malcom Stewart, Deputy Solicitor General, arguing before the Supreme Court in Universal Health Services v. U.S. ex rel. Escobar.Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Suit Against KBR Will Go Forward: False Certification of Compliance Not Needed To State a Claim
Posted 10/21/15
C|C Whistleblower Team
By Janice Kelly
A whistleblower suit against KBR will go forward after a district court judge found that relators’ complaint sufficiently alleged a violation of the False Claims Act. Judge Michael M. Mihm found that relators’ claims that KBR sidestepped required inventory controls and ordered hundreds of millions of dollars of unneeded materials met the FCA’s requirement that fraud...