OWNERS/EMPLOYEES PLEAD GUILTY TO HOME HEALTH CARE FRAUD

FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
 Monday, April 2, 2012
Two Owners and Two Employees of Miami Home Health Company Plead Guilty in $20 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON – Two owners and two employees of a Miami home health care agency pleaded guilty for their participation in a $20 million Medicare fraud scheme involving false billings for home health care services, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Ariel Rodriguez, 41, Reynaldo Navarro, 37, and Ysel Salado, 26, each pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and Melissa Rodriguez, 24, pleaded guilty on March 28, 2012, before Judge Cooke to the same charge.
           
According to court documents, Ariel Rodriguez and Reynaldo Navarro were the owners of Serendipity Home Health Inc., a Florida home health agency that purported to provide home health care and physical therapy services to eligible Medicare beneficiaries.  Melissa Rodriguez and Ysel Salado were employees at Serendipity Home Health.

According to plea documents, Ariel Rodriguez, Navarro and their co-conspirators paid kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters.  In return, the recruiters provided patients to Serendipity, as well as prescriptions, plans of care (POCs) and certifications for medically unnecessary therapy and home health services.  Ariel Rodriguez and Navarro used the prescriptions, POCs and medical certifications to fraudulently bill the Medicare program, which Ariel Rodriguez and Navarro knew was in violation of federal criminal laws.
Melissa Rodriguez and Salado admitted that they cashed checks from Serendipity and provided the cash to Ariel Rodriguez and Navarro to use for the kickback payments.
According to plea documents, Serendipity nurses and office staff falsified patient files for Medicare beneficiaries to make it appear that the beneficiaries qualified for home health care and therapy services.  In fact, the beneficiaries did not actually qualify for and did not receive such services.  Ariel Rodriguez and Navarro admitted that they knew files were falsified so that Medicare could be billed for medically unnecessary services.

From approximately April 2007 through March 2009, Ariel Rodriguez, Navarro and their co-conspirators submitted approximately $20 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare.  Medicare paid approximately $14 million on those claims.
The pleas were announced today by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Dennis of the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations Miami Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Joseph S. Beemsterboer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,190 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $3.6 billion.  In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

FLORIDA-BASED COMPANY TO PAY $137.5 MILLION TO SETTLE FALSE CLAIMS MEDICARE CASE

FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WEBSITE
Tuesday, April 3, 2012Florida-Based Wellcare Health Plans Agrees to Pay $137.5 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations

WASHINGTON – WellCare Health Plans Inc. will pay $137.5 million to the federal government and nine states to resolve four lawsuits alleging violations of the False Claims Act, the Justice Department announced today.  WellCare, based in Tampa, Fla., provides managed health care services for approximately 2.6 million Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries nationwide.

The lawsuits alleged a number of schemes to submit false claims to Medicare and various Medicaid programs, including allegations that WellCare falsely inflated the amount it claimed to be spending on medical care in order to avoid returning money to Medicaid and other programs in various states, including the Florida Medicaid and Florida Healthy Kids programs; knowingly retained overpayments it had received from Florida Medicaid for infant care; and falsified data that misrepresented the medical conditions of patients and the treatments they received.

Additionally, it was alleged that WellCare engaged in certain marketing abuses, including the “cherrypicking” of healthy patients in order to avoid future costs; manipulated “grades of service” or other performance metrics regarding its call center; and operated a sham special investigations unit.

The settlement requires that Wellcare pay the United States and nine states – Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New York and Ohio – a total of $137.5 million.  WellCare may also be required to pay an additional $35 million in the event that the company is sold or experiences a change in control within three years of this agreement.

“Government health plans increasingly rely on managed care organizations to provide patient care.   This case illustrates our commitment to ensure that government funds are in fact used to render care and not to line the pockets of those more concerned with the bottom line,” said Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.


This is the second monetary settlement reached with WellCare since the government initiated a criminal and civil investigation of WellCare in 2006.   On May 5, 2009, in order to resolve potential criminal charges related to losses by the Florida Medicaid and Healthy Kids programs, WellCare entered a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Florida, under which WellCare paid $40 million in restitution and forfeited an additional $40 million.   The U.S. Attorney’s office also has pursued criminal charges against several former Wellcare employees.   One former WellCare analyst, Gregory West, entered into a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge shortly after execution of a search warrant on WellCare’s corporate headquarters in Tampa; he is currently awaiting sentencing.  Five former executives – including former CEO Todd Farha, former CFO Paul Behrens and former general counsel Thaddeus Bereday – were indicted in March 2011 and are currently awaiting trial, which is presently scheduled for January 2013.   Additionally, Wellcare previously executed a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) with the Office of Inspector General of the U.S.  Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG) that imposes compliance obligations on the company for a period of five years.  

The resolution of the civil suits announced today brings the total recoveries from WellCare to $217.5 million, a number that will rise to over a quarter billion ($252.5 million) if the contingency payment provision is triggered.

“The monies recovered in restitution and from this settlement agreement will go to the federal and state programs which suffered these losses, while the forfeited funds will go to law enforcement to help fund future investigations,” said Robert E. O’Neill, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida.   O’Neill continued, “In an era of decreasing federal and state budgets, and increasing healthcare costs, we must pursue all available civil remedies to recover losses suffered by government healthcare programs.   This settlement should serve as notice to those defrauding state and federal healthcare programs that, in addition to appropriate criminal prosecutions, we will utilize civil suits to root out their conduct and recover their ill-gotten gains.”

“Fraud committed by managed care companies harms the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and increases the healthcare burden for all of us,” said David B. Fein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.   “The government is committed to preventing fraud in federal and state health care programs, and managed care companies that are dishonest will be held accountable.”

“Ensuring the integrity of the Medicaid and Medicare managed care programs is one of our highest priorities ” said Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. “OIG will work vigilantly with law enforcement partners at all levels of government to safeguard this vital program.”

The four lawsuits were filed by whistleblowers, known as relators, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows private parties to file suit on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery.  Sean Hellein, a financial analyst formerly employed by WellCare whosequi tam complaint initiated the government’s investigation, will receive approximately $20.75 million.   The other three relators – Clark Bolton, SF United Partners Inc. and Eugene Gonzalez – will split about $4.66 million and will be entitled to receive an additional share of any contingency payment.

This resolution is part of the government's emphasis on combating health care fraud and another step for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced by Attorney General Eric Holder and Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in May 2009. The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation. One of the most powerful tools in that effort is the False Claims Act, which the Justice Department has used to recover more than $6.7 billion since January 2009 in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs. The Justice Department's total recoveries in False Claims Act cases since January 2009 are over $9 billion.

This case was investigated jointly by the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida and the District of Connecticut, the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units, the FBI, and the HHS-OIG.

The claims settled by today’s agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability except as noted in the referenced criminal proceeding.

DOJ ALLEGES GFI MORTGAGE BANKERS CHARGED HIGHER RATES AND FEES TO MINORITIES

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Monday, April 2, 2012
Justice Department Alleges GFI Mortgage Bankers Engaged in Illegal Lending Discrimination Complaint Alleges New York-Based Company Charged Higher Interest Rates and Fees to African-American and Hispanic Borrowers
WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed a lawsuit alleging that GFI Mortgage Bankers Inc., a mortgage banker with operations in seven states, violated federal fair lending laws by charging African-American and Hispanic borrowers higher interest rates and fees on home mortgage loans because of their race or national origin, not based on their creditworthiness.

The complaint, filed today in the Southern District of New York under the federal Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act, alleges that GFI engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race and national origin by charging African-American and Hispanic borrowers higher interest rates and fees on home mortgage loans compared to similarly-situated white borrowers.  The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York investigated and filed the lawsuit jointly.

“Charging  people more for home loans simply because of their race or national origin – as we have alleged in our complaint against GFI – is illegal. The Justice Department will act aggressively to ensure that all people have equal access to credit and a level playing field ,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.  “For that reason, vigorous enforcement of fair lending laws remains a top priority.”
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said, “As the lawsuit we filed today alleges, discrimination still exists in certain quarters and it has profound consequences for the victims.  At a time when so many American homeowners of all races and nationalities are struggling to make their mortgage payments, it is unacceptable that, as we allege, the impact of GFI Mortgage’s business practices resulted in its African-American and Hispanic customers paying higher fees and interest rates for their residential mortgages.  As today’s suit demonstrates, this type of discriminatory action will not be tolerated.  We will continue to work to ensure that fair lending laws are enforced throughout the district.”

“HUD and the Justice Department work together to end lending discrimination in America.  This case and others nationwide demonstrate our commitment to pursue lenders if they violate the Fair Housing Act and seek relief for discrimination victims,” said Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity John Trasviña.

From 2005 through at least 2009, GFI charged higher loan prices to African-American and Hispanic borrowers than it charged to similarly-situated white borrowers by charging higher interest rates and fees for home mortgage loans.  For example, an African-American borrower who took out a home mortgage loan in 2007 paid on average approximately $7,500 more over the first four years of the loan than a similarly-situated white borrower.  For a Hispanic borrower, the difference was approximately $5,600 more over the first four years of the loan than a similarly-situated white borrower.  The disparities, based on race or national origin, are statistically significant, and are unrelated to credit risk or loan characteristic.

During the period when the discrimination occurred, GFI had a policy or practice of allowing and encouraging its loan officers in New York and New Jersey to promote loan products, price loans and charge fees in a manner that was unrelated to credit risk or loan characteristics.  GFI knew that its loan officers priced loans in ways unrelated to a borrower’s creditworthiness, resulting in thousands of dollars in overcharges for African-American and Hispanic borrowers based on their race or national origin.  By providing its loan officers a substantial percentage of the profits generated on each loan, GFI’s compensation scheme provided strong financial incentives to loan officers to price their loan products in a discriminatory manner.  Moreover, GFI failed to supervise, train, or adequately monitor its loan officers to ensure that they were pricing loans in a non-discriminatory manner.

During the period when the discrimination occurred, the number of home mortgage loans issued by GFI increased from 974 in 2005 to 2,270 in 2009.  At the same time, GFI’s revenue from its home mortgage loan services increased from $305 million in 2005 to $768 million in 2009.

This case resulted from a referral by HUD to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in 2010.

The Civil Rights Division and other agencies involved in this matter are part of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.  President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.  The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources.  The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information on the task force, visit www.StopFraud.gov.
African-American and Hispanic borrowers who received GFI loans since 2005, former employees of GFI or any other individuals with information relevant to this lawsuit are encouraged to contact the U.S. Department of Justice at 1-800-896-7743, mailbox 9992, or at:
Chief, Civil Rights Unit
U.S. Attorney’s Office, S.D.N.Y.
86 Chambers Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10007

G.S. ELECTECH PLEADS GUILTY TO PRICE FIXING AUTO PARTS

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
G.S. Electech Agrees to Plead Guilty to Price Fixing on Auto Parts Installed in U.S. Cars Company Also Agrees to Pay $2.75 Million Criminal Fine
WASHINGTON – Toyota City, Japan-based G.S. Electech Inc. has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $2.75 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix the prices of auto parts used on antilock brake systems installed in U.S. cars, the Department of Justice announced today.

According to a one-count felony charge filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, in Detroit, G.S. Electech engaged in a conspiracy to rig bids and to fix the prices of speed sensor wire assemblies, which are installed on automobiles with an antilock brake system (ABS) and were sold to an automaker in the United States and elsewhere. According to the charge, G.S. Electech’s involvement in the conspiracy lasted from at least as early as January 2003 until at least February 2010.  According to the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, G.S. Electech has agreed to pay a criminal fine and to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation.

"The Antitrust Division continues to uncover and prosecute illegal conduct in its ongoing and active investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Sharis A. Pozen in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.  “Today’s announcement demonstrates that the Antitrust Division, working with its law enforcement partners, will continue to pursue those who engage in anticompetitive behavior that harms American businesses and consumers.

Including G.S. Electech, eight executives and four companies have been charged and have agreed to plead guilty in the investigation thus far. Three of the companies have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to pay criminal fines totaling more than $748 million. Seven of the executives have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to serve a total of more than 122 months in jail.

G.S. Electech manufactures, assembles and sells a variety of automotive electrical parts, including speed sensor wire assemblies. The speed sensor wire assemblies connect a sensor on each tire to the ABS and carry electrical signals from the sensors to the ABS to instruct it when to engage.

According to the charge, G.S. Electech and its co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy by, among other things, agreeing during meetings and discussions in Japan to coordinate bids submitted to, and price adjustments requested by, an automobile manufacturer.  In court documents, G.S. Electech and its co-conspirators employed measures to keep their conduct secret, including using code names and instructing participants to destroy evidence of collusion.

G.S. Electech is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum fine of $100 million for corporations. The maximum fine for the company may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS CORPORATION SETTLE CHARGES OF INSIDER TRADING

The following excerpt is from the SEC website:
March 30, 2012
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that, on March 29, 2012, the Honorable George B. Daniels,U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, entered a settled final judgment for insider trading in the options of InterMune, Inc. as to Michael S. Sarkesian, a Swiss citizen and resident, and Quorne Ltd., a British Virgin Islands limited liability company wholly owned by a Cyprus trust maintained for the benefit of a Sarkesian relation. The alleged illicit trading by Sarkesian and Quorne took place ahead of a December 17, 2010 announcement that the European Union’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, or CHMP, had recommended to the European Commission that it permit InterMune to market its developmental drug, Esbriet, in the European Union. Sarkesian and Quorne consented to the entry of the final judgment, which imposes injunctive and monetary relief. The Commission also announced that on March 27, 2012, it amended its complaint, filed on December 23, 2010 against one or more unknown purchasers of the options of InterMune, to name Sarkesian and Quorne as defendants.

In its amended complaint, the Commission alleges that Sarkesian was tipped to material non-public information concerning the CHMP’s recommendation in advance of the December 17 announcement and that, while in possession of this material non-public information, Sarkesian exercised his authority to manage and administer Quorne’s funds by recommending to Quorne that it purchase InterMune call options. As a result, Sarkesian caused Quorne to purchase 400 InterMune call options through a brokerage account in Switzerland on December 7 and 8, 2010. The market price of the 400 options rose over 500% following the December 17 announcement.

On December 23, 2010, on the same day that the Commission filed its initial complaint, the Court entered a Temporary Restraining Order freezing assets and trading proceeds from the alleged illicit trading and prohibiting the then-unknown purchasers from disposing of the options or any proceeds from the sale of the options. Quorne later sold the 400 options, the proceeds of which have remained frozen by Court order.
Without admitting or denying the allegations of the amended complaint, Quorne and Sarkesian consented to entry of a final judgment enjoining them from future violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and ordering them jointly and severally to pay $616,000 in disgorgement and $93,806.17 in civil penalties pursuant to Exchange Act Section 21A. The monetary sanctions will be paid out of the frozen funds. See Litigation Release No. 21794 (December 23, 2010).

The Commission acknowledges the assistance of the Options Regulatory Surveillance Authority, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, and the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission.

OWNER OF DETROIT MEDICAL CLINIC PLEADS GUILTY TO MEDICARE FRAUD

The following excerpt is from the U.S. Department of Justice website:
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Detroit Medical Clinic Owner Pleads Guilty to Medicare Fraud Scheme
WASHINGTON – The owner of a Detroit medical clinic pleaded guilty today for his participation in a Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  

Juan Villa, 29, of Miami, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow in the Eastern District of Michigan to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  At sentencing, Villa faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.      

According to the plea documents, Villa owned Blessed Medical Clinic in Livonia, Mich.  Villa admitted that he hired patient recruiters who paid cash bribes to Medicare beneficiaries to attend the clinic and provide their Medicare numbers and other information.  Villa admitted that he used the beneficiary information to bill for medically unnecessary diagnostic tests and treatments.  According to court documents, Blessed Medical Clinic fraudulently billed Medicare $2.4 million during the course of the scheme.

Today’s guilty plea was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade; Special Agent in Charge Andrew G. Arena of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the HHS Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Chicago Regional Office.
   
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frances Lee Carlson and Philip A. Ross of the Eastern District of Michigan, with assistance from Assistant Chief Gejaa T. Gobena of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  The case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.    

Since their inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,190 individuals who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $3.6 billion.  In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

AUTO PARTS COMPANY EXECUTIVE PLEADS GUILTY TO PRICE FIXING

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website:
Monday, March 26, 2012
DENSO Corporation Executive Agrees to Plead Guilty to Price Fixing and Bid Rigging on Auto Parts Installed in U.S. Cars Executive Also Agrees to Serve Significant Prison Time
WASHINGTON – An executive of Japan-based DENSO Corporation, has agreed to plead guilty and to serve time in prison for his role in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for heater control panels (HCPs) installed in U.S. cars, the Department of Justice announced today.

According to a one-count felony charge filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit, Norihiro Imai, a Japanese national, along with co-conspirators, engaged in a conspiracy to rig bids for and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of HCPs sold to customers in the United States and elsewhere. According to the charge, Imai’s involvement in the conspiracy lasted from at least as early as August 2006 until at least June 2009. According to the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, Imai has agreed to serve one year and one day in a U.S. prison, to pay a $20,000 criminal fine and to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation.

“Today’s guilty plea demonstrates the Antitrust Division’s commitment to hold executives accountable for engaging in illegal conduct that leads to higher prices for American businesses and consumers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Sharis A. Pozen in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “Criminal antitrust enforcement is a top priority, and the division will continue to work with its law enforcement partners in the ongoing investigation in the auto parts industry.”

DENSO manufactures and sells a variety of automotive electrical parts, including HCPs. HCPs are located in the center console of an automobile and control the temperature of the interior environment of a vehicle. According to the charge, Imai and his co-conspirators carried out the conspiracy by, among other things, agreeing during meetings and discussions to coordinate bids submitted to, and price adjustments requested by, automobile manufacturers.

Including Imai, eight individuals and three companies have been charged in the government’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry. DENSO pleaded guilty on March 5, 2012, and was sentenced to pay a $78 million criminal fine. Yazaki Corporation, another Japanese automotive electrical component supplier, pleaded guilty on March 1, 2012, and was sentenced to pay a $470 million criminal fine.  Additionally, four Yazaki executives were charged on Jan. 30, 2012, and have agreed to plead guilty. On Nov. 14, 2011, Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $200 million fine. Three of Furukawa’s executives also pleaded guilty and were sentenced to serve prison sentences in the United States ranging from a year and a day to 18 months.

Imai is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals. The maximum fine for an individual may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

The current prosecution arose from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section and the FBI’s Detroit Field Office with the assistance of the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit.