SLEEP APNEA MASK COMPANY RESOLVES FALSE CLAIMS CASE FOR $34.8 MILLION

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Respironics to Pay $34.8 Million for Allegedly Causing False Claims to Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare Related to the Sale of Masks Designed to Treat Sleep Apnea

Respironics Inc., based in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, has agreed to pay $34.8 million to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations for paying kickbacks in the form of free call center services to durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers that bought its masks for patients with sleep apnea, the Department of Justice announced today.  

“The payment of illegal remuneration in any form to induce patient referrals threatens public confidence in the health care system,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “Americans deserve to know that when they are prescribed a device to treat a serious health care problem, the supplier’s judgment has not been compromised by illegal payments from equipment manufacturers.

The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits the knowing and willful payment of any remuneration to induce the referral of services or items that are paid for by a federal healthcare program, such as Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE.  Claims submitted to these programs in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute are also false claims under the False Claims Act.

The United States alleged that Respironics violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by providing free services to DME suppliers to induce them to purchase Respironics masks that treat sleep apnea.  Respironics allegedly provided DME companies with call center services to meet their patients’ resupply needs at no charge as long as the patients were using masks that Respironics manufactured; otherwise, the DME companies would have to pay a monthly fee based on the number of patients who used masks manufactured by a competitor of Respironics.  The government alleged that the conduct began in April 2012 and continued until November 2015.

“This office has made a substantial commitment to combating fraud,” said U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles of the District of South Carolina. “Our commitment has made this district one of the leaders on behalf of whistleblowers.  We hope that those who commit fraud will recognize that it is our goal to make the consequences more than just the cost of doing business.”

Respironics will pay roughly $34.14 million to the federal government and roughly $660,000 to various state governments based on their participation in the Medicaid program.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit originally brought by Dr. Gibran Ameer, who has worked for different DME companies, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  The Act permits private citizens with knowledge of fraud against the government to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the United States and to share in any recovery.   Under the civil settlement announced today, Dr. Ameer will receive $5.38 million out of the federal share of the recovery.

“Medical equipment manufacturers that boost profits by providing kickbacks to suppliers will be held accountable for their improper conduct,” said Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).  “We will continue to investigate such business arrangements, which threaten the integrity of federal health care programs.”

This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  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 this effort is the False Claims Act.  Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $27.4 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $17.4 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

This settlement was the result of a coordinated effort by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of South Carolina, and HHS Office of Counsel to the Inspector General and Office of Investigations and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units.

The lawsuit is captioned United States et al. ex rel. Dr. Gibran Ameer v. Philips Electronics North America, et al., Case No. 2:14-cv-2077-PMD (D.S.C.).  The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

MAKING ILLEGAL PAYMENTS TO DOCTORS, HOSPITALS WILL COST MEDICAL EQUIPMENT COMPANY $646 MILLION

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Medical Equipment Company Will Pay $646 Million for Making Illegal Payments to Doctors and Hospitals in United States and Latin America

Olympus Corp. of the Americas, Nation’s Largest Distributor of Endoscopes, Also Agrees to Reforms and Subsidiary Admits to Foreign Bribery

The United States’ largest distributor of endoscopes and related equipment will pay $623.2 million to resolve criminal charges and civil claims relating to a scheme to pay kickbacks to doctors and hospitals, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman of the District of New Jersey and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer of the Justice Department’s Civil Division announced today.  U.S. Attorney Fishman and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General David Bitkower of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division also announced that a subsidiary of the distributor will pay $22.8 million to resolve criminal charges relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in Latin America.

Anti-Kickback Statute Violations

Olympus Corp. of the Americas (OCA) was charged in a criminal complaint filed today in Newark, New Jersey, federal court with conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), which prohibits payments to induce purchases paid for by federal health care programs.  OCA has entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) that will allow it to avoid conviction if it complies with the reform and compliance requirements outlined in the agreement.

“For years, Olympus Corporation of the Americas and Olympus Latin America dropped the compliance ball and failed to have in place policies and practices that would have prevented the substantial kickbacks and bribes they paid,” said U.S. Attorney Fishman. “It is appropriate that they be punished for that.  At the same time, the deferred prosecution agreement takes into account the companies’ cooperation and commitment to fully functional corporate compliance.”

As a result of the conduct outlined in the government’s criminal complaint and DPA, OCA has agreed to pay a $312.4 million criminal penalty and an additional $310.8 million to settle civil claims under the federal and various state False Claims Acts, the largest total amount paid in U.S. history for violations involving the AKS by a medical device company.

“The Department of Justice has longstanding concerns about improper financial relationships between medical device manufacturers and the health care providers who prescribe or use their products,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mizer.  “Such relationships can improperly influence a provider’s judgment about a patient’s health care needs, result in the use of inferior or overpriced equipment, and drive up health care costs for everybody.  In addition to yielding a substantial recovery for taxpayers, this settlement should send a clear message that we will not tolerate these types of abusive arrangements, and the pernicious effects they can have on our health care system.”

In a separate DPA, Olympus Latin America Inc. (OLA), a subsidiary of OCA, will pay a $22.8 million criminal penalty for violations of the FCPA.

The criminal complaint against OCA, which OCA agrees is true, charges that OCA won new business and rewarded sales by giving doctors and hospitals kickbacks, including consulting payments, foreign travel, lavish meals, millions of dollars in grants and free endoscopes.  For example:

OCA gave a hospital a $5,000 grant to facilitate a $750,000 sale;

OCA held up a $50,000 research grant until a second hospital signed a deal to purchase Olympus equipment;

OCA paid for a trip for three doctors to travel to Japan in 2007 as a quid pro quo for their hospital’s decision to switch from a competitor to Olympus; and

a doctor with a major role in a New York medical center’s buying decisions received free use of $400,000 in equipment for his private practice.

These and other kickbacks helped OCA obtain more than $600 million in sales and realize gross profits of more than $230 million.

The criminal complaint alleges that the improper payments happened while Olympus lacked training and compliance programs.  Unlike other medical and surgical products companies, Olympus did not create the position of compliance officer until 2009 and did not hire an experienced compliance professional until August 2010.

The DPA requires OCA to adopt several compliance measures to remedy its problems:

OCA must enhance its compliance training and maintain an effective compliance program;

OCA must maintain a confidential hotline and website for OCA employees and customers to report wrongdoing;

OCA’s chief executive officer and board of directors must certify annually that the program is effective; and

OCA must adopt an executive financial recoupment program requiring executives who engage in misconduct or fail to promote compliance to forfeit up to three years of performance pay.

Larry Mackey, a former federal prosecutor best known for trying the Oklahoma City bombing cases, has been selected as an independent monitor to evaluate and oversee Olympus’ compliance with the DPA.  He was selected by U.S. Attorney Fishman under department guidelines and approved by the Deputy Attorney General.  The DPA and monitor will remain in place for three years and can be extended for another two years if Olympus violates the DPA.

In the civil settlement, Olympus agrees to pay $310.8 million to the federal government and the states to resolve claims that Olympus’s payment of kickbacks caused false claims to be submitted to federal health care programs Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE, and thus violated not only the AKS but also the federal and various state False Claims Acts.  The federal share of the civil settlement is $267,288,323, and Olympus will pay $43,512,053 million to participating states that contributed to the falsely claimed Medicaid payments at issue.

The civil settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by John Slowik, the former chief compliance officer of OCA, in the District of New Jersey, under the federal and various state False Claims Acts.  The acts permit whistleblowers to file suit for false claims against the government entities and to share in any recovery.  Mr. Slowik will receive $44,102, 573 million from the federal share and $7 million from the state share of the civil settlement amount.

FCPA Violations

In a separate criminal complaint filed today in Newark federal court, OCA’s Miami-based subsidiary OLA was charged with FCPA violations in connection with improper payments to health officials in Central and South America, and OLA entered into a separate three-year DPA.  According to court documents, from 2006 until August 2011, OLA implemented a plan to increase medical equipment sales in Central and South America by providing payments to health care practitioners at government-owned health care facilities.  These payments included cash, money transfers, personal grants, personal travel and free or heavily discounted equipment.  The primary method to deliver these illicit benefits was through “training centers,” nominally set up to educate and train doctors, but which OLA used to provide benefits to pre-selected practitioners.  OLA and its conspirators paid nearly $3 million to practitioners to induce the purchase of Olympus products and recognized more than $7.5 million in profits as a result.

“Olympus Latin America admitted to bribing publicly employed health care providers and hospital officials across Central and South America so that it could illegally win business and sell its products,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bitkower.  “OLA’s illegal tactics in Central and South America mirrored Olympus’s conduct in the United States.  The FCPA resolution announced today demonstrates the department’s commitment to ensuring the integrity of the health-care equipment market, regardless whether the illegal bribes occur in the U.S. or abroad.”

OLA entered into the DPA with the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of New Jersey.  The agreement requires OLA to pay a criminal penalty of $22.8 million, retain the same compliance monitor as for OLA (Mr. Mackey) for a period of three years and implement a number of compliance measures.  The department reached this resolution based on a number of factors, including that OLA did not voluntarily disclose the misconduct in a timely manner, but OLA did receive credit of a 20 percent reduction on its penalty for its cooperation, including its extensive internal investigation, translation of numerous foreign language documents and collecting, analyzing and organizing voluminous evidence.

Corporate Integrity Agreement

In addition to the criminal and civil resolutions, Olympus executed a corporate integrity agreement (CIA) with the Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).  The CIA details the compliance program OCA must maintain, which must include:

compliance responsibilities for OCA management and the board of directors;

a health care compliance code of conduct that includes certain standards;

training and education that includes specified standards;

requirements for consulting arrangements, grants and charitable contributions, management of field assets and review of travel expenses;

risk assessment and mitigation process; and

review procedures for testing the compliance program.

“Olympus Corp. of the Americas’ and its subsidiaries’ greed-fueled kickback scheme threatened the impartiality of medical decision-making and the financial integrity of Medicare and Medicaid,” said Special Agent in Charge Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).  “Working with our law enforcement partners, we remain vigilant and committed to protecting beneficiaries and taxpayers from those seeking to unlawfully enrich themselves.”

* * *

The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of New Jersey prosecuted the criminal case under the AKS against Olympus and, with the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, reached the civil settlement.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of New Jersey and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the criminal case under the FCPA against OLA.  The HHS Office of Counsel to the Inspector General, the FBI, HHS-OIG Office of Criminal Investigations and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units provided assistance.

The FBI’s Newark Field Office, HHS-OIG and the FBI Allentown, Pennsylvania, Field Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. David Walk Jr. and Deborah J. Gannett of the District of New Jersey’s Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark represented the government in the AKS criminal prosecution.  Assistant U.S. Attorney David E. Dauenheimer of the District of New Jersey and Senior Trial Counsel David T. Cohen of the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch represented the government in the prosecution of the civil case.  Mary Riordan and Nicole Caucci of the HHS-OIG negotiated the CIA.

Fraud Section Trial Attorney James P. McDonald and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Walk and Gannett prosecuted the FCPA case.  The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in this matter.

U.S. Attorney Fishman reorganized the health care fraud practice at the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of New Jersey, including creating a stand-alone Health Care and Government Fraud Unit, which handles both criminal and civil investigations and prosecutions of health care fraud offenses.  Since 2010, the office has recovered more than $1.29 billion in health care fraud and government fraud settlements, judgments, fines, restitution and forfeiture under the False Claims Act, the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and other statutes.

This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  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 this effort is the False Claims Act.  Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $27.4 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $17.4 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

PHYSICIAN REFERRALS LEADS TO $10 MILLION FALSE CLAIMS ACT SETTLEMENT

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Ohio-Based Health System Pays United States $10 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

Robinson Health System Inc. has agreed to pay $10 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute by engaging in improper financial relationships with referring physicians, the Justice Department announced today.  Robinson is a nonprofit corporation based in Ohio that operates a number of health care facilities in Portage County, Ohio, including Robinson Memorial Hospital.

“The Department of Justice has longstanding concerns about improper financial relationships between health care providers and their referral sources, because such relationships can alter a physician’s judgment about the patient’s true health care needs and drive up health care costs for everybody,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “In addition to yielding a recovery for taxpayers, this settlement should deter similar conduct in the future and help make health care more affordable.”

The settlement announced today involved Robinson’s financial relationships with a number of referring physicians that allegedly violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute, both of which restrict the financial relationships that hospitals may have with doctors who refer patients to them.  These relationships included management agreements that Robinson had with two physicians groups.  These physicians allegedly failed to provide sufficient bona fide management services to have justified the payments that they received.  Robinson disclosed these issues to the government.

“Referrals should be made to the best qualified physicians, and must be based on what’s best for the patient,” said U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach of the Northern District of Ohio.  “Improper financial relationships between hospitals and referring doctors can lead to clouded judgments, which is why the Department of Justice will continue to police such matters vigorously.”

This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  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 this effort is the False Claims Act, which prohibits false claims for federal funds, including claims submitted in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute.  Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $23.9 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $15.2 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

The case was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General.

CALIFORNIA COMPANY TO PAY $17.5 MILLION TO SETTLE ALLEGED MEDICARE AND MEDI-CAL FRAUD

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Wednesday, September 25, 2013

California Mobile Lab and X-ray Provider, Diagnostic Laboratories and Radiology, to Pay $17.5 Million for Falsely Billing Medicare and Medi-CAL
Kan-Di-Ki LLC, formerly known as Kan-Di-Ki Inc., doing business as Diagnostic Laboratories and Radiology (Diagnostic Labs), will pay $17.5 million to settle allegations that the California-based company violated the federal and California False Claims Acts by paying kickbacks for referral of mobile lab and radiology services subsequently billed to Medicare and Medi-Cal (the state of California’s Medicaid program), the Justice Department announced today.

“This settlement demonstrates the Department of Justice’s continuing efforts to protect public funds,” said Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.  “We will continue to work with our state partners to recover misspent monies from companies that abuse government health care programs.”

Diagnostic Labs allegedly took advantage of Medicare’s different reimbursement system for inpatient and outpatient services by charging Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) in California discounted rates for inpatient services paid by Medicare in exchange for the facilities’ referral of outpatient business to Diagnostic Labs.  For inpatient services, Medicare pays a fixed rate based on the patient’s diagnosis, regardless of specific services provided.  For outpatients, Medicare pays for each service separately.  Diagnostic Labs’ scheme enabled the SNFs to maximize profit earned for providing inpatient services by decreasing SNFs’ costs of providing these services.  It also allegedly allowed Diagnostic Labs to obtain a steady stream of lucrative outpatient referrals that it could directly bill to Medicare and Medi-Cal.  The provision of inducements, including discounted rates, to generate referrals is prohibited by federal and state law.

“When medical facility owners illegally offer discounts to customers to generate business, it results in inflated claims to government health care programs and increases costs for all taxpayers,” said Glenn R. Ferry, Special Agent in Charge for the Los Angeles Region of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General.  “This $17.5 million settlement demonstrates OIG’s ongoing commitment to safeguarding federal health care programs and taxpayer dollars against all types of fraudulent activities.”

This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  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 this effort is the False Claims Act.  Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $16.6 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $11.8 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

This settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by former Diagnostic Lab employees, Jon Pasqua and Jeff Hauser, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the federal and state False Claims Acts.  The acts allow private citizens with knowledge of fraud to bring civil actions on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery .  Together, Pasqua and Hauser will receive $3,755,500 as their share of the federal government’s recovery.

The investigation was jointly handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General.

DOCTOR CONVICTED OF RECEIVING KICKBACKS FROM HOSPICE COMPANY

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Monday, June 3, 2013
Doctor Convicted in Kickback Scheme Involving a Philadelphia Hospice

A federal jury sitting in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania convicted Eugene Goldman, M.D., 55, of Philadelphia, of one count of conspiring to violate the anti-kickback statute and four counts of violating the anti-kickback statute in relation to his role in a kickback scheme arising from his employment as the Medical Director at Home Care Hospice Inc. (HCH), announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The evidence at trial proved that from approximately December 2000 until approximately July 2011, Goldman served as the medical director for HCH and regularly referred Medicare or Medicaid patient beneficiaries to HCH. HCH was a for-profit business in Philadelphia that provided hospice services for patients at nursing homes, hospitals and private residences.

In December 2000, Goldman and one of the co-owners of HCH entered into a written contract to create the false appearance that all payments to Goldman from HCH were for services rendered in Goldman’s capacity as medical director for HCH, when in fact the large majority of payments from HCH to Goldman were illegal payments for the referral of Medicare and/or Medicaid patients to HCH. From January 2003 to October 2008, Goldman received approximately $263,000 in illegal payments for patient referrals. In January, February and March 2009, Goldman was captured on tape receiving kickbacks for patient referrals.

Goldman faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count of conviction when he is sentenced on Sept. 9, 2013, by U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno. The conviction will result in the mandatory exclusion of Goldman from participation in any federal health care program, and he also faces the possible loss of his medical license.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne B. Ercole and Trial Attorney Margaret Vierbuchen of the Organized Crime and Gang Section in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

FOUR INDIVIDUALS AND THREE CORPORATIONS CONVICTED OF CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUDING NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice Website:

“WASHINGTON — A Manhattan jury today convicted four individuals and three corporations for their participation in an eight-year conspiracy, involving kickbacks in excess of $2 million, to defraud New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH), the Department of Justice announced. In addition to today's convictions, previously 10 individuals and three companies have pleaded guilty to date to charges arising out of this investigation.

After a four week trial, Michael Yaron and two companies owned by him, Cambridge Environmental & Construction Corp., which does business as National Environmental Associates (Cambridge/NEA), an asbestos abatement company, and Oxford Construction & Development Corp., a construction company; Moshe Buchnik, the president of two asbestos abatement companies; Santo Saglimbeni, a former vice president of facilities operations at NYPH; Artech Corporation, a company owned by a relative of Saglimbeni; and Emilio "Tony" Figueroa, a former director of facilities operations at NYPH were each convicted of engaging in a wire fraud conspiracy to defraud NYPH. Additionally, Yaron, Cambridge/NEA, Oxford, Buchnik, Saglimbeni and Artech were also convicted of wire fraud for transferring money electronically from the bank account of one co-conspirator to Artech's bank account.

"We are very pleased that the jury found these individuals and companies guilty of conspiracy to defraud New York Presbyterian Hospital," said Sharis A. Pozen, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. "This verdict sends a clear message that corrupt purchasing officials and the contractors who paid them kickbacks will be held accountable for this type of illegal conduct."

According to the court document, the scheme to defraud NYPH centered on Saglimbeni, with the assistance of Figueroa, awarding asbestos abatement, air monitoring and general construction contracts to Yaron, Buchnik, Cambridge/NEA and Oxford in return for over $2.3 million in kickbacks paid to Saglimbeni. A portion of those kickbacks were funneled by Yaron to Saglimbeni through Artech, a sham company Saglimbeni created in the name of his mother in order to conceal the kickbacks. Counts three and four of the superseding indictment charging Saglimbeni and Figueroa with mail fraud conspiracy and mail fraud were severed from the matter and will be tried on April 16, 2012, in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Sentencing for all defendants is scheduled for June 20, 2012, before Judge George B. Daniels. The wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy charges each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for individuals and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals and companies. The maximum fine 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 convictions announced today resulted from a federal antitrust investigation of bid rigging, fraud, bribery and tax-related offenses in the award of construction, maintenance and service contracts to the facilities operations department of NYPH.
The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division's New York Field Office with the assistance of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation's New York Field Office.”

ACCENTURE LLP PAYS OVER $63 MILLION FOR ALLEGEDLY DEFRAUDING THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

The following is an excerpt from the Department of Justice website:

Monday, September 12, 2011
WASHINGTON – Accenture LLP has agreed to pay the United States $63.675 million to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit, the Justice Department announced today. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, alleges that Accenture submitted or caused to be submitted false claims for payment under numerous contracts with agencies of the United States for information technology services.
Accenture has agreed to resolve allegations that it received kickbacks for its recommendations of hardware and software to the government, fraudulently inflated prices and rigged bids in connection with federal information technology contracts.
“Kickbacks and bid rigging undermine the integrity of the federal procurement process,” said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “At a time when we're looking for ways to reduce our public spending, it is especially important to ensure that government contractors play by the rules and don’t waste precious taxpayer dollars.”
“We strive each and every day to bring justice to the citizens of the Eastern District of Arkansas,” stated Christopher R. Thyer, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. “Fraudulent business practices that steal hard earned and much needed tax dollars from appropriate use will not be tolerated. The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to pursuing these cases to the full extent of the law.”
The lawsuit was initially filed by Norman Rille and Neal Roberts under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the federal False Claims Act, which permit private individuals, called “relators” to bring lawsuits on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of the proceeds of a settlement or judgment awarded against a defendant. The portion of the proceeds to be paid in this case has not yet been resolved.
“Companies profiting off the breach of their government contracts will pay,” said Brian D. Miller, General Services Administration Inspector General.
The case was handled by the Department of Justice’s Civil Division and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas, with the assistance of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Offices of Inspector General of the Department of Energy, the Department of Education, Department of Treasury Tax Administration (TIGTA), General Services Administration, Department of State and Transportation Security Administration.”