Sep 19, 2022 | White Collar Crime
On Thursday, September 8, 2022, U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones sentenced a former City of Atlanta executive to 14 years in prison and ordered her to pay $2.9 million in restitution. Mitzi Bickers, 56, was the director of Atlanta’s human services department from...
Sep 19, 2022 | federal investigations
Tax return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams, and the government continues in its efforts to eradicate it as such. On September 7, 2022, Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert advised “taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain...
Sep 7, 2022 | False Claims Act
The Eleventh Circuit agreed with a Florida district court’s ruling that an employee needs “at least an objectively reasonable belief” that they engaged in protected conduct to recover for retaliation under the False Claims Act (FCA), and the FCA does not cover general...
Sep 7, 2022 | federal investigations
On September 2, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the conviction of Mark Schena of California. Mr. Schena was the president of Arrayit Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based medical technology company. According to the press release, Mr. Schena claimed to...
Sep 7, 2022 | Health Care Fraud
On September 2, the Department of Justice announced, “Bayer Corporation, an Indiana corporation and manufacturer of pharmaceutical products, and its related entities, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc., Bayer HealthCare LLC and Bayer AG (collectively “Bayer”), have...
Sep 5, 2022 | Government Investigations, White Collar Crime
On September 5, 2022, United States District Judge Aileen Cannon, of the Southern District of Florida, issued an Order granting in part former president Donald Trump’s “Motion for Judicial Oversight and Additional Relief.” In that motion, President Trump asked that...
Aug 31, 2022 | Health Care Fraud
On August 25, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit upheld the convictions of a former Alabama physician, Patrick Ifediba, and his sister, Ngozi Justina Ozuligbo, who was a nurse who worked at a clinic run by her brother. They were charged and convicted of health care fraud,...
Aug 31, 2022 | Government Affairs
Earlier this summer on June 1, 2022, the New York Senate passed legislation (Senate Bill S8837) which would require that medical marijuana, a.k.a. medical cannabis, be covered under health insurance plans offered under public programs, such as Medicaid. The bill also...
Aug 31, 2022 | Government Investigations
The DOJ just announced that John F. Cochcroft, of South Carolina, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison after previously pleading guilty to one count of introduction of a new drug into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud and mislead and one count...
