News

The Department of Justice’s new Whistleblower Ombudsperson position underscores the federal government’s reliance on whistleblowers who provide critical information and assistance to regulators in fighting fraud. Veteran federal prosecutor Robert Storch will serve as the first Whistleblower Ombudsperson in the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

The...

Florida has remained a hub for Medicaid fraud, especially fraud in home healthcare services. An anti-fraud program launched in Miami-Dade to crack down on the problem of Medicaid fraud will now expand to Lee County and 33 other Florida counties.

Florida Program will Monitor for Medicaid Fraud.

The program requires nurses and home healthcare aides to call a...

The recent Libor price-rigging scandal may cost the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) its oversight of the interest rate that provides the reference for over $500 trillion in securities, according to Bloomberg News. The BBA has been assigned fault in the Libor debacle by both the U.S. Treasury Secretary and the Bank of England because the BBA failed to respond adequately when...

Miami residents Sharon Angulo and Claudia Zuloaga have been barred by a Florida federal court from preparing federal income tax returns for others, according to the Department of Justice. The government has alleged that the defendants helped their customers prepare Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Forms 1099-OID in order to report phony income tax withholding.

The defendants’...

You may remember stories of the Department of Defense paying $100 or more for a simple hammer or a bolt. Whether or not those stories are fair, defense contract fraud remains a real concern. That concern was realized recently when the former co-owner of a company contracted to do work in Iraq pleaded guilty to filing false claims with the federal government.

Jill Ann Charpia, former...

Certain Tennessee residents and home healthcare providers have agreed to a $9.375 million settlement with the federal government to resolve a 2009 False Claims Act lawsuit. The Justice Department alleged that the defendants violated the False Claims Act by causing Medicare to pay too much based on a mistake in fact.

Alleged Medicare Fraud Prompted False Claims Act...

An Intro to Whistleblower Laws and Why Trial Lawyers Should be Paying Attention

In 2010 Congress passed The SEC whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. §78u-6 et seq., providing bounties of 10% to 30% of the government’s recovery to whistleblowers whose complaints to the SEC about securities fraud...

September 3, 2012 — Dentist Kristi Ayn Liebau, formerly practicing in Pennsylvania and now living in Texas, has been charged with making false claims against the Medicaid program. Federal investigators first noticed a potential problem when Dr. Liebau billed Medicaid for repairs to six teeth for a single, very young patient. In fact, federal investigators discovered that those particular...

August 31, 2012 — In 2010, the Small Smiles dental chain, owned by Church Street Health Management, settled government claims of dental Medicaid fraud for $24 million. Of that total settlement, $3.45 million went to the state of New York. The legal problems were not over for Small Smiles clinics in New York, however.

August 28, 2012 — The House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee has been looking at the problem of Medicaid fraud involving orthodontic services in Texas, reports Austin’s KVUE.com and North Texas’ WFAA.com. As Rep. Trey Gowdy said, “It took a reporter to unlock the mystery that Texas is spending more on braces than the rest of the country put...