Jun 20, 2024 | Cyber Law, Data Breach, False Claims Act, Government Contract, Government Investigations
On June 17, the Department of Justice announced that two government contractors agreed to pay a combined $11.3 Million under the False Claims Act for failing to implement certain safeguards to meet cybersecurity requirements contained in their government contracts....
Jun 18, 2024 | White Collar Crime
The DOJ just announced that Kathleen Breault, a midwife at Sage-Femme Midwifery PLLC (Sage-Femme), has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States and its departments and agencies. Breault’s guilty plea came after she admitted her role in a scheme that...
Jun 18, 2024 | Trademark Enforcement, Trademark Protection
As of April 2024, Virginia Beach icons Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, of the production team the Neptunes, were locked in a legal battle. Rolling Stone magazine reports that Chad Hugo has accused his long-time friend and collaborator, Pharrell Williams, of...
Jun 14, 2024 | Government Investigations, Health Care, Health Care Fraud, White Collar Crime
On June 13, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that the founder and CEO of a California-based telehealth company, as well as the company’s clinical president, were charged in what the feds are calling a fraud worth over $100 million. According to the indictment,...
Jun 13, 2024 | False Claims Act
Richard Hall, former owner of Rxpress Pharmacy and Xpress Compounding, was sentenced to four years and four months in prison for his role in an illegal kickback scheme that involved the submission of false claims to TRICARE and the U.S. Department of Labor, which...
Jun 13, 2024 | federal investigations
On May 31, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced two convictions in an alleged “wide-ranging scheme” involving the use of stolen identities and fraudulent tax returns used to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of $111 million. The government claims that...
Jun 13, 2024 | White Collar Crime
On June 10, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the sentencing of two Ohio men, Christos Karasarides Jr. and Ronald DiPietro, for a range of crimes including tax evasion, gambling, money laundering, conspiracy, and obstruction. According to evidence presented...
Jun 5, 2024 | Government Investigations, Health Care, Health Care Fraud
Although the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, the regulatory and legal fallout from the pandemic is far from over. Since the COVID public health emergency (PHE) expired in May 2023, various federal agencies, including HHS-OIG and the DOJ, have been investigating...
Jun 5, 2024 | False Claims Act, Government Investigations, Health Care Fraud, White Collar Crime
The Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) has long been one of the federal government’s most powerful tools when it comes to healthcare fraud and abuse. Not only is the AKS a felony statute, imposing a sentence of up to ten years in prison per violation, but a violation of...
Jun 3, 2024 | Zoning and Land Use
Sometimes, properties undergo rezoning, resulting in changes to their permitted uses. This can mean a single-family residential property with a 100-foot frontage is now required to have a 200-foot frontage, or a property with two rental units can only have one due to...
