News

February 16, 2013 — EMH Regional Medical Center (EMH) and North Ohio Heart Center (NOHC) in Lorain County, Ohio have consented to pay $4.4 million to resolve a False Claims Act lawsuit filed against the two health care providers by a former laboratory manager with EMH. Allegations of health care fraud are often brought to light when employees file suit under the qui tam provisions of the...

February 15, 2013 — Military equipment contracts are lucrative business for government contractors. But overbilling the government to cover the cost of bribes used to obtain the military’s business is a violation of the federal False Claims Act. When contractors do resort to bribery or fraud as a means to get military contracts, they sometimes pay their own employees to keep quiet. Other...

North Carolina resident Bruce Gregory Harrison, III has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for payroll tax fraud, failure to timely file individual tax reports, and attempting to obstruct an IRS investigation, according to the Justice Department. Mr. Harrison was convicted of failing to pay to the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) over $40 million dollars in federal taxes that he withheld...

Officials with a number of states have been investigating and building a case against the banks involved in the price-fixing Libor scandal. Determining and proving losses incurred by the states could be difficult, however.

Libor provides the benchmark for financial contracts around the world for everything...

Dr. John Natale, a 63-year-old vascular and thoracic surgeon, has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after his conviction for making false statements in his post-operative reports relating to the healthcare services provided to Medicare beneficiaries, according to the Chicago Tribune. He will also pay a fine of $40,000 and will perform community service during his post-release year of...

Medicare fraud has become a serious issue. According to Heartland Connection, $6.8 million is lost every hour to Medicare fraud. Seniors can be vulnerable to Medicare scams, and the Senior Medicare Patrol of Kansas City is working to educate seniors about the risk. The organization recently held a Medicare Summary Notice Workshop that taught seniors to interpret their Medicare Summary Notices...

Charles A. Davis has been sentenced to ten years in prison for tax fraud. According to the Justice Department, Mr. Davis has also been ordered to serve a year of supervised release after he is released from prison and to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) totaling $538,569.

Karen T. Rayburn, a patient recruiter for a number of Louisiana durable medical equipment (DME) companies, pleaded guilty and will serve 18 months in prison for participating in a Medicare fraud scheme. Ms. Rayburn allegedly received illegal kickbacks for providing personal information about Medicare beneficiaries and prescriptions for DMEs.  Her work assisted the DME companies in filing...

Bradley C. Birkenfeld, a former UBS banker, provided information to authorities about UBS’s schemes to assist Americans in avoiding their taxes, and information supplied by Mr. Birkenfeld resulted in an investigation that significantly lowered Switzerland’s role as a secret haven for U.S. citizens seeking to evade their tax obligations. In addition, the U.S. Treasury recovered...

Bethany Lutheran Home in Council Bluffs, Iowa has been accused of engaging in Medicare fraud that cost the Medicare program $3 million. The nursing home, in turn, has sued the contractor it claims is responsible for the Medicare fraud, according to the Des Moines Register. The nursing home is suing Kindred Healthcare and its predecessor, RehabCare Group based on negligence and breach of...