Fifty-five health care facilities in twenty-one states have agreed to pay a total of over $34 million to settle allegations of submitting false claims to Medicare for minimally invasive kyphoplasty procedures. Kyphoplasty is used to treat specific spinal fractures frequently caused by osteoporosis.
On July 1, New York Supreme Court Justice O. Peter Sherwood denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against Sprint Nextel Corp. for deliberately not collecting or paying millions of dollars of taxes for its cell phone service.
Beginning this month, whistleblowers working for Defense Department subcontractors will benefit from a new law intended to provide increased protection to those who expose potential wrongdoing.
The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a study June 24 that found that more than 417,000 prescriptions paid for by Medicare’s 2009 prescription drug program were written by unauthorized professionals.
Last Tuesday Arkansas Attorney General, Dustin McDaniel, filed a brief supported by his counterparts in 35 other states requesting that the Arkansas Supreme Court uphold a $1.2 billion fine levied against Johnson & Johnson and a subsidiary over the marketing of the antipsychotics drug Risperdal.
A settlement was announced late last week in the False Claims Act case against Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). According to the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales of the District of New Mexico, SAIC, one of the government’s largest contractors, paid $11.75 million regarding allegations that they inflated the cost of first responder training programs over a ten year period.
On June 12, 2013, the SEC issued its second whistleblower award and a top SEC official has predicted additional larger awards will soon be forthcoming. The award was issued in connection with an enforcement action against Andrey Hicks and his company, Locust Offshore Management, LLC. The SEC charged that both Hicks and Locust sold shares in a pooled investment fund that turned out to be fictitious.
Not only was the IRS allegedly scrutinizing conservative groups more closely than their liberal counterparts, but apparently the Service was spending enough money to make even the wealthiest world travelers blush. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has completed an audit of the IRS’ spending over a three-year span beginning in fiscal year 2010.
We had previously reported that plans were in the works to renew efforts for Pennsylvania to adopt a False Claims Act. House Bill 1493 has now been introduced in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. This proposed legislation, if enacted, would give the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office primary responsibility for investigating and prosecuting suits against those who are suspected of committing fraud against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has a program – the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program – which encourages the use of minority and women owned businesses on federally-funded transportation projects. Contractors on these projects are required to make a good faith effort to meet DBE participation goals in order to receive federal monies.
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.