The U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report stating that 7,000 Medicaid providers in three states had approximately $791 million in unpaid federal taxes from 2009 and earlier. Medicaid providers from Florida, New York, and Texas received approximately $6.6 billion in Medicaid reimbursements during 2009 as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The Wall Street Journal reports that pharmaceutical giant, Johnson & Johnson, may pay up to $2.2 billion to settle claims for its Risperdal marketing practices, and the settlement may include a criminal fine of approximately $400 million. The settlement would allow Johnson & Johnson to continue to sell its products to government programs.
The Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinic, which serves northern New England residents, has paid over $500,000 to settle claims that six of its neurologists overbilled Medicare and Medicaid. The investigation started with Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s self-disclosure of billing improprieties related to one physician in 2009.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York settled false claims against the Local 95 Head Start Employees Welfare Fund for charging a Head Start program more for medical insurance than it had paid for the insurance. The fund administered medical insurance for employees working for agencies that maintain Head Start programs.
James Alderson, a former chief financial officer for a Montana hospital, received a $27 million benefit by blowing the whistle on his former employer’s accounting fraud.
A federal appeals court ruled that the reward, since filing the qui tam suit under the Federal False Claims Act, is taxed as ordinary income and not under the lower capital gains tax rate.
According to a recent report, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has amassed $452 million to be paid out to whistleblowers across the country.
The cash is part of the SEC’s whistleblower program, which celebrated its first anniversary this week.
An Arizona-based company, NextCare Inc., has agreed to pay the United States $10 million to settle federal and state allegations that it submitted false claims. NextCare is an owner of a chain of urgent care facilities with locations in Arizona, Colorado, Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia.
NextCare Inc.
Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP attorneys, Marc S. Raspanti and Pamela C. Brecht had their article “The Tar Heel State Steps Up Its Fight Against Fraud,” published in The Legal Intelligencer on June 26 and June 27, 2012.
The article discusses the North Carolina False Claims Act and the powerful weapon that North Carolinians have to combat fraud against their tax dollars.
The FY 2011 IRS Whistleblower Office report is out and can be read here:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/fy2011_annual_report.
The Justice Department announced on Monday, July 2, 2012 that GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay $3 billion in settlements and to plead guilty to criminal charges related to its branding, safety disclosures and price reporting of several drugs. This is the largest fraud settlement in U.S. history to date.
GlaxoSmithKline will pay $1.
