A former US Army Sergeant pleaded guilty to theft of US government equipment during time he spent in Iraq training the Iraqi Army units. Robert Ashley Nelson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to steal public property for his role in stealing eight generators from an Army base, which he then sold for approximately $44,830.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the filing and settlement of a false claims act lawsuit against the administrator of the US Department of State’s Fulbright Scholar’s program. The US Attorney alleged that over an 8-year period, the administrator, the Institute of International Education (IIE) did not comply with grant requirements and repeatedly made false claims for payments by inflating its labor costs incurred.
The New York Times reports that hospice care is under the microscope for care and treatment that may not be necessary. The amount of money spent on hospice care grew from $2.9 billion in 2000 to more than $12 billion in 2009. The increase is attributable to Medicare regulations some years ago that demonstrated that allowed for hospice care as a cost-effective way of caring for individual near the end of life.
On June 13, 2011, it was announced that the U.S. Department of Justice would intervene in a False Claims Act suit against Eli Hage Korban, M.D., and two Tennessee hospitals, Jackson-Medicine Country General Hospital and Regional Hospital of Jackson. The suit is before Judge Bernice Bouie Donald, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee,
In early June 2011, a U.S. District Court Judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $327 million due to its deceptive marketing of the antipsychotic medication, Risperdal. The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania,
On June 17, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the settlement of claims against Fluor Hanford, Inc. alleging that the company knowingly submitted false claims and paid and received kickbacks relating to a contract to operate and manage radioactive waste at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Nuclear Site in Hanford,
The Wall Street Journal reports that the development of New York City’s automated payroll system – known as CityTime – was the subject of significant fraudulent kickbacks. The US Attorney recently announced indictments of two New Jersey executives accused of paying off contractors involving over $600 million in city funds,
The Tucson Sentinel reports that despite Congressional expansion of the IRS whistleblower program in 2006, the program does not live up to its expectations. In the four years since Congress passed the new program, only one whistleblower has purportedly collected an award—an accountant who collected $4.5 million for reporting a $20 million tax underpayment.
On Thursday, the United States Supreme Court struck down a Vermont law that blocked drug manufacturers’ use of prescription drug information in marketing campaigns designed to sell new drugs to physicians. Although the law was designed to hold down health care costs and shield physicians from harassing marketing campaigns by preventing manufacturers from using prescription drug information to craft marketing campaigns,
Last week, United States District Judge Steve Merryday upheld Relator John King’s amended qui tam Complaint against grenade manufacturer DSE, Inc. and its subcontractors Kaman Precision Products, GTI Systems, and JKS Industries. Mr. King, a former employee at DSE, alleges that the company terminated him from the position of quality-assurance manager when he refused to certify the quality of defective grenades that either exploded prematurely or failed to explode at all.
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.