Whistleblower News From the Inside -- February 5, 2018
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Memphis Operator, LLC d/b/a Spring Gate Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center will Pay $500,000 to the United States and the State of Tennessee for Services Rendered to Residents of Spring Gate that were Materially Substandard and Worthless – Memphis Operator, LLC d/b/a Spring Gate Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center will pay $500,000 to the United States and the State of Tennessee to resolve allegations of false claims to Medicare and Tenncare for services rendered to residents of Spring Gate that were materially substandard, worthless and were provided in violation of certain essential requirements that the United States expects skilled nursing facilities to meet. The Complaint alleged that from 2012 to 2015, Spring Gate provided substandard and worthless nursing home services to residents. Under federal and state law, Medicare and Tenncare will not pay for services deemed to be so deficient that they are essentially worthless. The allegations resolved in this settlement were first raised in a lawsuit filed against Spring Gate under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which permits parties to sue on behalf of the government for the submission of false claims and share in the recovery. The False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-3733, provides the United States with a cause of action against any person or entity that knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval. DOJ
China’s Banking Regulator Fines 19 Banks over $3-billion Pledged Loan Fraud – China’s banking regulator has imposed fines of 52.5 million yuan ($8.36-million) on 19 banks in the northwestern province of Shaanxi and the central province of Henan over a 19-billion-yuan ($3-billion) pledged loan fraud, it said on Friday. It is the third major penalty handed down since the start of the year as the regulator steps up a crackdown on illegal practices to fend off financial risk. Criminals illegally pledged gold of low purity to obtain loans from banks, including branches of large state lenders Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd and Postal Savings Bank of China Co, the regulator said. Reuters
Surgeon Convicted of Fraud After Lying About Operations – A surgeon has been convicted of fraud after lying about the number of operations he had carried out to get a lucrative job. Sudip Sarker told interviewers in 2011 he had conducted 85 keyhole procedures, 51 of them solo – the true figure was just six. He was appointed to a £74,000 job at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, but immediately struggled. Sarker, 48, told Worcester Crown Court he had made a “guesstimate”. The jury took less than two hours to find him guilty of fraud by false representation. He is due to be sentenced on Monday. Giving evidence, Sarker, who previously worked at the Royal Free Hospital and Whittington Hospital, London, claimed he was “very nervous” ahead of his job interview and he had simply “misunderstood” the question about the number of keyhole operations he had performed. BBC News