For the fifth year in a row, federal fraud prevention efforts have seen an increase in the amount of money which has been recovered from individuals and companies who attempted to defraud federal health programs serving seniors or who sought to obtain payments to which they were not entitled. A record $4.3 billion dollars was recovered this past fiscal year.
JP Morgan is the most recent Wall Street firm to write a check, a whopping $614 million, to the government to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underwriting non-compliant mortgages that received federal insurance coverage from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
The West Virginia House of Delegates has refused to adopt false claims legislation for the state.
The Government Fraud Prevention Act, previously known as the False Claims and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2014, was intended to uncover fraud against the state, would have given the West Virginia Attorney General the power to investigate such activity and would have permitted individuals to bring suit against anyone who knowingly caused the state to pay a false claim.
Doshi Diagnostic Imaging Services, P.C., and Diagnostic Imaging Group, LLC, one of the largest medical imaging providers in the United States, has agreed to pay $15.5 million to settle several whistleblower allegations that they violated the federal False Claims Act and similar state statutes by improperly billing the Medicare and Medicaid Programs for diagnostic imaging studies that were unnecessary,
On Thursday, the West Virginia House Judiciary Committee again sent legislation which would establish a West Virginia False Claims Act to the House of Delegates.
According to House Judiciary Chairman Timothy Manchin, the leadership of the House asked the Judiciary Committee to re-examine the legislation because of concerns that the bill would result in a wave of baseless lawsuits.
The U.S. Government announced that SelfRefind, a chain of addiction treatment clinics, PremierTox LLC, a clinical laboratory that performs urine testing, and two physicians owners of SelfRefind and PremierTox (Drs. Bryan Wood and Robin Peavler) have agreed to pay $15.75 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims to Medicare and Kentucky’s Medicaid program for drug tests that were medically unnecessary,
A False Claims Act case filed in federal district court in Denver by a former employee against OtterBox nears settlement. The Fort Collins-based company has until the end of February to finalize a deal. The whistleblower, who worked as OtterBox’s supply chain director, alleged in his lawsuit that the company failed to pay customs duties on the full value of its popular cellphone cases.
The Department of Justice anounced on February 12, 2014 that MPRI Inc., a Virginia-based company, has agreed to pay the United States Government $3.2 Million to resolve a case involving false labor charges for work on a contract to support of the Army in Afghanistan. The case centered on allegations that MPRI billed for employees who had not worked because they were granted leave and were out of the country.
Dowson Farms, a farm business based in Divernon, Illinois, paid $5,364,000 to the U.S. to resolve False Claims Act allegations that it defrauded the federal farm subsidy program from 2002 to 2008 by avoiding the statutory caps on farm subsidy payments. Specifically, the owners of Dowson Farms, John J. Dowson,
According to a whistleblower suit brought under the False Claims Act, Prime Healthcare, a major healthcare company, defrauded CMS by over $50 million by misrepresenting the conditions of patients at 14 of its California hospitals. The whistleblower suit was filed by Karin Bernsten, the director of performance improvement at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego.
If you are aware of any person, corporation or entity that you think may be violating the Federal False Claims Act or a State False Claims Act, contact us today.