On Tuesday, February 9, 2016, President Barack Obama announced that he was seeking $29 billion in funding for the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) in his budget for fiscal year 2017.
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit interpreted the False Claims Act’s (“FCA’s”) public disclosure bar, as modified by the 2010 amendments, in a manner favorable to potential relators.
The United States has secured a $9 million settlement from URS E&C Holdings, Inc., a successor in interest to Washington Group International, Inc., to resolve False Claims Act allegations. According to the settlement, Washington Group International, Inc., a global design and construction company, was awarded contracts in the 1990s by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the construction of water and wastewater infrastructure projects in the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Novum Structures LLC, a Wisconsin based construction company, has agreed to pay a $3 million fine and enter a guilty plea for violating the “Buy America” provisions of contracts for federally funded construction projects. This includes a $500,000 criminal fine and $2.
On Wednesday, December 9, 2015, The Department of Justice announced that Bollinger Shipyards agreed to settle a False Claims Act suit in the Eastern District of Louisiana. The suit alleges that Bollinger misrepresented the longitudinal strength of patrol boats it was contracted to deliver to the Coast Guard. This misrepresentation resulted in the Coast Guard patrol boats buckling and failing while in service.
New York State Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden recently ruled that a former Vanguard Group tax lawyer’s qui tam complaint, filed in 2013 and made public a year later, must be dismissed and cannot be re-filed because it was brought in violation of New York State attorney ethic rules.
On October 30, 2015, the Department of Justice announced that 457 hospitals in 43 states had agreed to settle, for more than $250 million, False Claims Act allegations related to cardiac devices that were implanted in Medicare patients in violation of Medicare coverage requirements.
Contractors PAE Government Services Inc. and RM Asia (HK) Limited, tasked with vehicle maintenance capabilities and training services for the Afghanistan National Army, will pay $1.45 million to resolve false claims to the Government. Former PAE employee and qui tam Relator Steven D. Walker, along with the government, alleged that former managers for PAE and RM Asia engaged in a bid-rigging scheme that funneled government paid subcontracts to companies owned by the former managers and their family members by using confidential bid information to beat out competitors.
On August 6, 2015, the United States filed its Complaint in Intervention against Latonya (Tonya) Mallory, BlueWave Healthcare Consultants, Inc., Floyd Calhoun (Cal) Dent and Robert Bradford (Brad) Johnson for their part in a Medicare and Tricare fraud scheme involving three laboratories, including Health Diagnostics Laboratories, Inc.
VMware Inc., a manufacturer of computer visualization software, and Carahsoft Technology Corporation, a distributor of information technology, will be paying $75.5 million to settle claims that they made misrepresentations that allowed them to overcharge the government for VMware’s products and services.
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.