Author Archives: Site Administrator
Education Department Unwinds Unit Investigating Fraud at For-Profits
Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, according to current and former employees. The unwinding of the team has effectively killed investigations into possibly fraudulent activities at several large for-profit colleges where… Read More »
Money laundering in a digital world
Criminals have long used money laundering schemes to conceal illegal activity. Now, technological advancements are making it even harder to police such schemes. With the advent of online platforms came fraudulent schemes used to scam people out of their money, hack accounts and defraud internet users. The proliferation of peer-to-peer websites, online banking and… Read More »
Government signals sea change on health care false claims
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a major change in its policy regarding qui tam litigation in October. Moving forward, DOJ will now file a motion to dismiss when it decides a qui tam case is without merit rather than allowing the relator to proceed on his or her own. The announcement, made by… Read More »
Federal Grand Jury Indicts Ex-Chairman of Public Health Trust on Grounds of Tax Evasion, Fraud
While he campaigned for an $830 million bond referendum paid for by Miami-Dade taxpayers in 2013, the then-board chairman of Jackson Health System, the county’s public hospital network, refused to pay personal income taxes and then dodged the IRS’s collection efforts, a Miami grand jury said in a criminal indictment unsealed last week. Darryl… Read More »
Will the Supreme Court Rein in Civil Forfeiture?
A case from Indiana gives the justices an opportunity to protect Americans from abusive fines and property seizures. The state of Indiana really wants to take Tyson Timbs’s Land Rover, as punishment for dealing just a few hundred dollars’ worth of drugs. He’s now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let him keep it…. Read More »
DoJ Settles $27.68M in Medicare Fraud, False Claims Act Violations
The Department of Justice continues its crackdown on Medicare fraud by settling various criminal cases related to $27.68 million of False Claims Act violations. Provider settlements remain the primary medium for healthcare fraud recoveries, according to recent data released by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Settlements helped law enforcement officials recover $1.1… Read More »
Deputy Attorney General Sets the Stage for White Collar Crime Enforcement
On the last day of the American Bar Association’s National Institute on White Collar Crime, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein described some of the white collar crime priorities of the Department of Justice in the coming year. After highlighting recent prosecutions for Medicare and Medicaid fraud, military procurement fraud, and illegal offshore tax shelters,… Read More »
Venezuela Court-in-Exile calls for Maduro Trial on Corruption Charges
Venezuela’s Supreme Court in exile on Monday asked their country’s armed forces and Interpol to detain President Nicolás Maduro, saying there was probable cause to put him on trial for corruption and other crimes. Speaking from Colombia’s capital, the court — which isn’t considered legitimate by the administration in Venezuela — said Maduro had… Read More »
North Miami Beach Mayor Quits Office, Gets House Arrest in Campaign Finance Case
Under investigation for the past two years, the mayor of North Miami Beach on Tuesday agreed to resign from office and accept house arrest as part of a plea deal for violating state-campaign finance laws. George Vallejo accepted the deal, which was negotiated in advance of his being charged with two first-degree misdemeanors by… Read More »
Tax Reform Impacts Resolutions of False Claims Act Enforcement Actions
The tax reform law passed in December 2017 establishes requirements and conditions for the tax deductible treatment of payments made to the government to resolve enforcement actions. See 26 U.S.C. § 162(f) (2018); see also Pub. L. No. 115-97, § 13306, H.R. 1 (Dec. 22, 2017). The new provisions hold important implications for defendants… Read More »
