News

The Justice Department has announced a $3.8 million settlement of False Claims Act allegations against Radiotherapy Clinics of Georgia LLC, Physician Oncology Services Management Company LLC, RCOG Cancer Centers LLC, Physician Oncology Services L.P. and Frank A. Critz, M.D. (collectively, RCOG). The radiation oncology practice and its affiliates are located in Decatur, Georgia.

The...

Tenet Healthcare Corporation has consented to a $42.75 million settlement to resolve allegations by the U.S. government that the Dallas based company overbilled the federal Medicare program in connection with its inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs). The Justice Department announced that the False Claims Act settlement is the government’s single largest involving inappropriate...

Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore has agreed to a $793,548 settlement to put to rest allegations that it made false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for four years, from 2005 to 2008. According to federal officials, the facility noted upon some patients’ admission to the hospital that they were suffering from malnutrition, as a secondary condition. In fact, it is alleged, the patients...

A federal court in Chicago recently awarded the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) an emergency court order freezing the U.S. assets of six Chinese citizens. The SEC’s complaint against the six defendants accuses them of insider trading in Zhongpin Inc., a China-based pork producer whose shares are traded in this country.

According to the SEC, the Chinese defendants and...

The Justice Department is seeking to shut down three tax preparers from the Philadelphia area. The DOJ has asked a federal court to bar these individuals from preparing tax returns for other people because they have allegedly been involved in tax fraud against the U.S. government. According to the Justice Department, Deron Joe, James Tokpawhiea, and Edmund Dassin have operated Urban Tax...

James F. Turner II, Clay Capital Management, LLC hedge fund’s chief investment officer has received a one-year prison sentence and a $25,000 fine for insider trading. Turner’s conduct netted over $2.5 million. According to the Bloomberg news service, the sentence is based on Turner’s own admission that he used insider information to illegally trade shares of Salesforce.com...

A patient recruiter from the Detroit area has pleaded guilty to participating in a Medicare fraud scheme as an employee of Blessed Medical Clinic. Daron Elder has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  He could be sentenced to as much as 10 years in prison as well as a $250,000 fine.

Mr. Elder allegedly paid Medicare beneficiaries kickbacks to undergo...

Following an order from the Supreme Court of Pakistan to investigate corruption in the country, Pakistan’s branch of Transparency International requested that the U.S. Justice Department conduct an investigation of Oklahoma-based Walters Power International, LLC. The company is suspected of having paid bribes to officials in Pakistan to win contracts for building “rental power...

The Illinois-based Walgreens national pharmacy chain has paid $7.9 million to settle False Claims Act lawsuits alleging that the company offered illegal incentives to induce consumers to switch their prescriptions to Walgreens. The incentives included gift checks, gift cards and other similar items, none of which may be legally offered to beneficiaries of Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE or other...

Utah resident Stephen Murphy has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and was immediately sentenced to two years in prison and one year of supervised release, according the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He has also been ordered to pay $83,831 in restitution to the IRS. Mr. Murphy has admitted that his intention was to defraud the U.S. Treasury...