Between January 2009 and June 2011, the DOJ recovered more than $7.3 billion in civil settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Tony West stated that the DOJ “has never been more aggressive—or more successful—in the anti-fraud battle as it has in the last two years.” State recoveries are also reaching record-highs and looking to pass or amend aggressive false claims statutes patterned after the FCA.
Home Depot was sued for false claims for selling Chinese goods to the federal government in violation of the Buy American Act. That act requires all materials used in construction of public projects to originate in the United States or “designated countries.” GSA contracts with Home Depot authorize government agencies to purchase thousands of products from Home Depot’s designated website while many of the products on the website are actually manufactured in China and other non-designated countries.
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.
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.
On June 17, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the settlement of claims against Fluor Hanford, Inc.
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 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.
