‘Qui Tam Whistleblower’ Category

The owner and employees of a now-closed counseling services provider under contract with Oklahoma to counsel Medicaid patients have been charged with Medicaid fraud. According to pleadings filed by the state’s attorney general in Oklahoma County District Court, the owner and four counseling service providers of Guthrie-based Pure Hope Corporation billed the state for services that were...

In the middle of an investigation into the retail giant’s alleged Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, two congressmen have written to Mike Duke, Wal-Mart’s Chief Executive Officer, informing him that they had not yet received sufficient information from the company. Wal-Mart executives allegedly bribed officials in Mexico to promote the company’s business development...

What happens when a drug doesn’t have the benefits that its manufacturer was counting on as a selling point? According to a recently released email from Pfizer’s research director, you spin a story and hope the public will accept it “hook, line, and sinker.”

When a year-long medical study showed that Pfizer’s arthritis drug Celebrex was not safer for the...

Kelly Doll, former Pure Nightclub VIP host from the Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, has pleaded guilty to the charge of filing a false federal income tax return for 2006. Mr. Doll, along with other VIP Hosts and door personnel, received cash payments from patrons wishing to skip past the general admission line for more desirable seating, according to the Justice...

Billy Denica, a Miami-area resident and owner of an assisted living facility, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and has been sentenced to 37 months in prison for her part in a Medicare fraud scheme. As part of the scheme, people like Ms. Denica were paid kickbacks for referring patients to American Therapeutic Corp. (ATC), a fraudulent mental health facility. In...

Ward Diesel Filter Systems Inc. will pay the federal government $628,000 to settle allegations that the defense contractor knowingly submitted false claims to several federal agencies, according to the Justice Department. Ward Diesel had a contract through the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule program to provide diesel exhaust filtering systems to be used on...

A federal judge has sentenced Dr. Ellen Meredith Stubenhaus to serve five years in prison for her part in a tax fraud conspiracy. Dr. Stubenhaus worked as a salesperson for Pinnacle Quest International (PQI), a multi-level marketing organization that provided a marketplace for various vendors. From 2002 to 2008, PQI had more than 11,000 members across the United States.

Dr. Stubenhaus...

Sarah Da Silva Keller, a Miami-area resident, has pleaded guilty in federal court for her role in a fraud scheme that caused over $63 million in fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare and Medicaid, according to the Justice Department. When she is sentenced in October, Ms. Keller could face as much as 10 years in prison as well as a fine of $250,000.

Ms. Keller stated that the...

Connecticut-based Louis Dreyfus Energy Services has paid $4,084,000 to the U.S. government to settle allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act when it failed to pay funds owed on natural gas that it acquired from the Department of the Interior.

According to the Justice Department, the U.S. government alleged that Louis Dreyfus Energy made false claims against the...

Over the past decade, Medicare spending for penis pumps has shot up over 500 percent. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports that annual spending on penis pumps has increased from $7.2 million in 2000 to over $36 million in 2011. While this is still a very small portion of the $7.5 billion Medicare spends annually on durable medical equipment (DME) and outpatient supplies, the...