The DoD OIG newsletter summarizes the reports and investigations released by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General in the previous month and those we anticipate releasing in the coming month.

Publicly Released: September 1, 2020

This Lead Inspector General (Lead IG) report to the United States Congress on the East Africa Counterterrorism Operation and the North and West Africa Counterterrorism Operation is the 8th quarterly report detailing both operations. The purpose of these operations is to degrade al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliates, and other violent extremist organizations (VEO), in designated regions of East and North Africa, and contain them in designated regions of West Africa. This report covers the period from April 1, 2020, through to June 30, 2020.

Carolyn Hantz, Assistant Inspector General for Evaluations Programs, Combatant Commands, and Overseas Contingency Operations, discusses access to mental health care in the Department of Defense with Government Matters.

We plan to begin the subject follow-up evaluation immediately. The objective of this follow-up evaluation is to determine whether the DoD implemented corrective actions for report recommendations in DODIG-2019-088, “Evaluation of DoD Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons in Kuwait,” June 11, 2019.

We plan to begin the subject audit in September 2020. The objective of this audit is to determine whether the DoD Component acquisition officials managed programs for the middletier acquisition rapid prototyping or rapid fielding in accordance with DoD guidance. We may revise the objective as the audit proceeds, and we will also consider suggestions from management for additional or revised objectives.

We plan to begin the subject audit in September 2020. This audit is being conducted in response to allegations to the DoD Hotline. The objective of this audit is to determine whether Defense Media Activity personnel properly awarded and administered contracts in accordance with Federal and DoD regulations and guidance. We may revise the objective as the audit proceeds, and we will also consider suggestions from management for additional or revised objectives.

Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Scott J. Lampert, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General ("HHS OIG"), and Leigh-Alistair Barzey, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Field Office of the U.S. Department of Defense - Office of Inspector General's Defense Criminal Investigative Service ("DCIS"), announced today an $11 .5 million settlement of a False Claims Act case against BIO-REFERENCE LABORATORIES, INC. ("BRL"), a New Jersey-based biotechnology company that provides molecular and diagnostic tests. The settlement resolves claims that from 2009 to 2012, BRL fraudulently billed federal healthcare programs for testing conducted on hospital inpatients that should have been billed to the hospitals instead, and that BRL knowingly donated the cost of electronic medical records software to physicians' offices throughout the country based solely on the volume of business generated by those practices, in violation of the False Claims Act and the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Under the settlement approved by U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels, BRL will pay $11 ,500,960.00 to the United States to resolve the fraudulent billing and kickback claims. BRL also made extensive admissions regarding the company's conduct.

PORTLAND, Maine: A federal grand jury indicted a Falmouth man for federal program fraud, wire fraud, false personation and theft of government benefits, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced today.

Tampa, Florida - United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announces the unsealing of a 16-count indictment charging Steven Chun (57, Sarasota) and Daniel Tondre (50, Tampa) with conspiring to pay and receiving kickbacks in connection with prescribing a fentanyl spray. Chun is also charged with five counts of soliciting and receiving kickbacks in the form of speaker fees; Tondre is charged with five counts of offering and paying the speaker fees to Chun when he worked as an lnsys sales representative; and Chun and Tondre are both charged in five counts of identification fraud in connection with the speaker events. If convicted on all counts, Chun and Tondre each face a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison on the conspiracy count, up to 5 years' imprisonment on each identification fraud count, and up to 10 years in prison for each substantive kickback violation. The indictment also notifies the defendants that the United States is seeking a money judgment in the amount of the proceeds of the alleged kickbacks.