It was another big year for DOJ enforcement under the False Claims Act, the government’s primary fraud-fighting tool. As usual, most of the recoveries were in the healthcare space with eight of the Top-10 involving various schemes to defraud Medicare and Medicaid. Several of these Top-10 recoveries involved enforcement actions [...]
Whistleblower partner Poppy Alexander was published in a Law360 article, Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Must Put Officers On Alert (January 8, 2023; subscription required). Read Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Must Put Officers On Alert at constantinecannon.com
Private equity (PE) firms are in the hot seat, particularly when it comes to acquiring and investing in healthcare companies. According to a recent CNN article, a research study published in JAMA found that “[h]ealth care became more hazardous for patients at hospitals purchased by private equity firms.” This not [...]
This week’s Department of Justice (DOJ) Catch of the Week goes to Tampa-based H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute Hospital. Yesterday (January 4), the non-profit cancer treatment and research center agreed to pay roughly $19.6 million to settle DOJ charges of violating the False Claims Act by billing [...]
Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: NY Governor Pursues BNPL Regulation Payments Dive – January 3, 2024 New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday she’s pursuing buy now, pay later-related legislation that would require BNPL providers to obtain a license to operate in the state. The bill would also permit the [...]
Constantine Cannon partner Gordon Schnell was published yesterday (January 2) in Fortune on why you might become the next big whistleblower. He co-authored the piece with Amber Scorah, founder of Parallel Story, a nonprofit helping whistleblowers tell their stories. Schnell and Scorah have worked for years helping whistleblowers bring forward [...]
Last week (December 18), the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a landmark $140 million penalty against Southwest Airlines for operational failures that stranded more than two million passengers over last year’s Christmas holiday season. DOT trumpeted it as 30 times larger than any previous DOT penalty for consumer protection violations. [...]
“The False Claims Act is our nation’s primary weapon against fraud, and it has been amended by Congress and reaffirmed by the courts throughout our history. The qui tam provision has been particularly essential in our fight against fraudsters by leveraging whistleblowers’ knowledge of schemes that the government likely wouldn’t uncover [...]
Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: The Justice Department Takes Aim at Microtransactions Fraud Digital Transactions News – December 19, 2023 The U.S. Department of Justice announced late Friday it is filing cases against several fraud rings that use so-called microtransactions to mask their fraudulent activity from victims and card issuers. The [...]
Community Health Network Inc., based in Indianapolis, recently settled with the U.S. government for $345 million, addressing allegations under the False Claims Act related to the Stark Law. This landmark case emphasizes the importance of whistleblowers to combat Medicare fraud. The Stark Law prevents hospitals from billing Medicare for services [...]
