A qui tam complaint unsealed in New York federal court this week alleges that Commerzbank AG (“CBK”) violated the False Claims Act in connection with a $350 million loan that it secured from the Federal Reserve Bank as a result of the 2007 financial crisis. In response to the crisis,…
Yesterday the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit revived the False Claims Act case against Universal Health Services Inc. (“Universal Health”) filed by two relators that alleges that the company improperly billed the government for mental health services provided by unsupervised and unqualified staff. Universal Health owns and operates…
Miami, Florida-based lender and financial services company Hencorp Becstone Capital LC (“Hencorp”) has agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act in connection with an elaborate scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The Export-Import Bank, founded in 1934, is…
Century Ambulance Service Inc. (“Century Ambulance”) of Jacksonville, Florida allegedly defrauded Medicare and Medicaid out of $5 million by submitting claims for ambulance services that were unnecessary or inflated. With the help of local hospitals, Century Ambulance allegedly falsified documents and records on a daily basis regarding patients transported either…
The former president of Concorde Career Colleges Inc. (“Concorde”) is alleging that the concerns he raised regarding the recruitment policies of the for-profit school resulted in his termination in violation of the federal False Claims Act. The complaint also alleges breach of contract, and violations of Delaware Whistleblower’s Protection Act…
Cause of Action, a Washington-based, independent, non-profit, public interest group, asked the Seventh Circuit today to revive its False Claims Act suit against the Chicago Transit Authority (“CTA”) for allegedly overbilling the government up to $55 million for bus usage. From at least 2001 through 2010, CTA allegedly fraudulently billed…
An Illinois federal court rejected IBM Corporation’s (“IBM”) motion to dismiss a relator’s False Claims Act case accusing it of conspiring with other companies to submit approximately $50 million worth of fraudulent claims for a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) emergency response project. Although it went awry, “Project Shield”…
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that AstraZeneca LP, a Delaware-based pharmaceutical manufacturer, has agreed to pay the federal government $7.9 million to settle allegations that it engaged in a kickback scheme in violation of the Anti-Kickback statute and the False Claims Act. AstraZeneca markets and sells pharmaceutical…
A recent ruling by the Fourth Circuit has put the False Claims Act allegations made by Frank Skinner, a former executive of Armet Armored Vehicles Inc. (“Armet”), back in play. According to a federal district court in Virginia, the Circuit’s decision in Badr v. Triple Canopy Inc. has amounted to…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that medical device manufacturer Medtronic Inc. has agreed to pay the federal government $2.8 million to settle a relator’s allegations of fraud brought under the False Claims Act against the Minnesota-based company. Medtronic allegedly caused a number of physicians, located throughout twenty states,…