News Clips & Coverage

Novum Structures LLC will pay $3 million to settle criminal and civil False Claims Act allegations in Wisconsin federal court that it falsified documents to hide the improper use of foreign materials on construction projects funded with federal dollars, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday.
The Wisconsin-based manufacturer of glass space frames — found in roofs and atriums — agreed to plead guilty to a single count of concealing a material fact and fork over $500,000 in...

A private ambulance company serving New Jersey and other states systematically falsified patient and physician records to lock in millions of dollars of unjustified Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, according to a whistleblower lawsuit recently unsealed in federal court.
LifeStar Response, which is part of one of the largest private ambulance providers in the nation and has an office in Totowa, billed the state and federal governments for unnecessary or inflated ambulance service for...

Whistleblowers are showing their persistence in continuing to pursue qui tam cases after the government declines to intervene and 2015 was the most profitable year yet for whistleblower recoveries in declined cases. When a whistleblower lawsuit is filed, it is under seal until the Department of Justice (DOJ) can review the case and decide one of three actions.
They can recommend to the court the case be dropped for lack of substance, they can take over the lawsuit from the whistleblower...

The Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) collected over $3.5 billion in settlements and judgements from False Claims Act (FCA) civil cases in fiscal year 2015, with a whopping 81% of these recoveries driven by whistleblower (qui tam) lawsuits. The record annual whistleblower recovery amount was led by health care industry fraud FCA cases this year with a record high percentage of cases declined by the DOJ, subsequently pursued, and won by private attorneys.
FY2015...

New Horizon Treatment Services owes the state more than a quarter of a million dollars after an audit revealed that several of the agency’s reported costs were not substantiated, while other costs were overstated according to contract guidelines.
The audit also highlights apparent criminal activity, including the falsification of salaries and wages on government grant forms.
The audit revealed other alarming facts as well:
New Horizon is hiding unused state money in...

You may not recall the name Bradley Birkenfeld. But, I suspect, if you work for a large bank, a hospital, a defense contractor, or any of the thousands of other corporate entities that are either regulated by federal law or receive federal funds, you will never forget his name once you read this column.
What’s so special about Mr. Birkenfeld? The Internal Revenue Service paid him $104 million a few years ago, this after Mr. Birkenfeld had been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of...

A group of big banks tried to wreck a New Jersey trucking company during the 2007 credit crisis, the founder claims in a $300 million Manhattan federal lawsuit.
Dana Transport was victimized by predatory banks, which through forced mergers resulting from the financial crisis of 2008 wound up holding too much exposure to the company and wanted to get out, Mahany claims...

The owner of Dana Transport Inc. accused PNC Bank, Wells Fargo & Co. and others of costing him more than $500 million with a scheme that thrust the trucking company into default on a loan even though it was current on payments, according to a racketeering suit filed in New York on Thursday...

Attorney Brian Mahany joined seven U.S. Senators and other notables for a private celebration of today’s unanimous Senate resolution recognizing Whistleblower Appreciation Day. The Whistleblower Appreciation Day resolution recognizes the hundreds of citizens who report fraud and help recover billions lost to corporations cheating the taxpayers in government contracts and programs each year.
According to Brian Mahany, a lawyer whose clients helped the government recover nearly $17...

Dive Brief: Friendship Healthcare Services, a group of home healthcare providers based in Nashville, has paid $6.5 million to settle a whistleblower case. The case alleged that the company billed TennCare, Medicare and TRICARE for ineligible private nursing services, forged signatures on forms and failed to complete other required paperwork. A former nurse, Kay Flippo, filed the claims under the federal False Claims Act; she will receive an indisclosed amount of the settlement. Dive...