False Claims Act Update & Alert |
||||||
Taxpayers
Against Fraud Education Fund | Washington, D.C. |
WWW.TAF.ORG |
||||||
| |
|
|||||
 First
Iraq Civil Fraud Case Gets Green Light from DoJ In a major development, the U.S. Department of Justice says contracts presented to the Coalition Provisional Authority are subject to the False Claims Act: "[T]he United States believes that Custer Battles's claims ... violate the False Claims Act if the claims are shown to have been knowingly false ." >> To read DOJ brief (47-page PDF) >> To read more Said Jim Moorman, President of Taxpayers Against Fraud, "DoJ needs a taskforce on contractor fraud in Iraq. We hope the DoJ will now join this case and others that have been brought to it. This is a shining chance to show the people of Iraq -- and the world -- what it means to live in a nation of laws and accountability." |
||||||
 Quick,
Hide All the Assetsn Then: "Custer Battles now employs around 700 people and is expanding beyond Iraq's war zone, with plans to get into shrimp farming and home loans. It expects to garner revenue of $200 million next year." - Wall Street Journal, Aug. 13, 2004 n Now: "Custer Battles had operations in Fairfax and Rhode Island, but Sauber said the company is no longer operational because it was prohibited last year from receiving government contracts. 'The Air Force suspension has effectively put them out of business,' he said. 'They have lost all their contracts and all their assets.' - Washington Post, April 2, 2005 |
||||||
 The
Seeds of FraudNinety-five staffers at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are being “redeployed” out of audit and program integrity (i.e. anti-fraud) roles to work as “relationship managers” whose job it will be to smooth over the rough edges in the transition to the new drug benefit program. |
||||||
 The
Harvest of FraudThe Department of Justice has indicted 10 people in Southern California in a $24 million Medicare fraud case in which elderly Vietnamese immigrants were prescribed medically unnecessary motorized wheelchairs and liquid nutritional supplements. Authorities say the owner of one Huntington Beach medical supply business used his proceeds to buy a Rolls-Royce, a Lamborghini, a $185,000 yacht and to pay a $120,000 tab at a Las Vegas casino. |
||||||
 Tricky Knees
&
Doctor KickbacksJohnson & Johnson's DePuy Orthopaedics, Biomet Inc., Stryker Corp, Zimmer Holdings Inc. and Smith & Nephew Orthopedics -- all makers of knee and hip implants or orthopedic devices -- have been subpoened by the U.S. Department of Justice regarding consulting and compensation agreements that the companies have made with orthopedic surgeons. >> To read more |
||||||
 Fox
in the Chicken House?North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services contracted with the state's largest disproportionate-share recipient, Carolinas Medical Center, to run their disproportionate-share program. Surprise, surprise: A state audit has now discovered that the "administrators" overpaid hospitals by $414 million from 1997 to 2003. The Feds have been investigating for at least 6 months, but no charges have been filed yet. >> To read more |
||||||
|
|
||||||
