June 23, 2022

Military contractors indicted for $7 million procurement fraud scheme

A federal grand jury has indicted a company and three individuals in an alleged fraud scheme involving military contracts totaling over $7 million. The three-count indictment charges Envistacom LLC, its President Alan Carson, a vice president Valerie Hayes, and the owner of another company, Philip Flores, each with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and two counts of major fraud.

June 17, 2022

Government Official Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes

A General Services Administration (GSA) Contracting Official pleaded guilty today to accepting bribes. According to court documents, beginning in approximately December of 2015 and continuing through August 2019, Charles W. Jones, 59, of Staunton, accepted bribes from government contractors in return for awarding federal contracts to Contractors USA and SDC Contracting LLC. Jones was employed as a Supervisory Construction Control Representative with the GSA in Richmond.

June 14, 2022

KBR Defendants Agree to Settle Kickback and False Claims Allegations

Kellogg Brown & Root Services Inc., headquartered in Houston, and three other companies have agreed to a settlement of $13.67 million to resolve a lawsuit seeking damages and penalties for alleged violations of the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Act, and for breach of contract. The four named defendants are: Kellogg Brown & Root Services Inc., Kellogg Brown & Root Inc., Kellogg Brown & Root LLC, and Overseas Administration Services Ltd. (collectively KBR). The settlement amount includes a payment of $12 million by KBR, in addition to $1.67 million in contract restitution that KBR previously paid to the United States relating to the subcontracts at issue in the lawsuit.

June 10, 2022

Stock Trader Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Investors in Medical Technology Company

A California man pleaded guilty yesterday in connection with a scheme to defraud investors in a publicly traded company’s securities and manipulate the company’s stock price.

June 10, 2022

Scotts Valley Resident Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Investors In Medical Technology Company

A California man pleaded guilty yesterday in connection with a scheme to defraud investors in a publicly traded company’s securities and manipulate the company’s stock price. According to court documents, Jason Nielsen, 48, of Scotts Valley, was a large shareholder of Arrayit, a publicly traded medical device company based in California. From approximately 2019 through April 2020, Nielsen engaged in an unlawful “scalping” and “spoofing” scheme to manipulate the price of Arrayit securities. Nielsen used online message boards to publicly post false and misleading information about the nature of his trading in Arrayit securities, in order to induce others to purchase Arrayit securities and thereby drive up the stock’s price, a practice known as “scalping.” 

June 9, 2022

Former Tungsten Heavy Powder & Parts CEO Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Export United States Defense Articles including to The People’s Republic of China

Joe Sery, former owner and chief executive officer of Tungsten Heavy Powder & Parts, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge William V. Gallo to conspiring to commit offenses against the United States, including the unlawful exportation of defense articles on the U.S. Munitions List from the United States to the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of India, and elsewhere, without first obtaining a valid license or approval for such export from the U.S. Department of State, in violation of federal export laws pursuant to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

June 9, 2022

New Jersey Business Owner Admits Defrauding Over 75 Victims of More Than $2.7 Million in Nationwide Scheme to Sell Pesticides Falsely Billed as Registered with EPA and Approved to Kill Coronavirus

A New Jersey man pleaded guilty to various charges stemming from his sale of more than $2.7 million worth of various unregistered pesticides to numerous victims based on false representations that these products were registered pesticides with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and on EPA’s “List N: Disinfectants for Use Against SARSCoV-2” that EPA deemed to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 (Coronavirus).

June 7, 2022

Georgia Man Pleads Guilty To Fraud And Kickback Scheme Involving Covid-19 And Cancer Genetic Testing

A Georgia man pleaded guilty today for his role in a conspiracy to commit health care fraud and receive kickbacks in connection with fraudulent testing claims for COVID-19 and cancer genetic screenings, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Erik Santos, 52, of Braselton, Georgia pleaded guilty to a two-count Information charging him with, in count one, conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback statute, and, in count two, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark federal court.

June 6, 2022

Suburban Chicago Home Sleep Testing Company To Pay $3.5 Million To Settle Federal Health Care Fraud Suit

A suburban Chicago diagnostics company that provides home sleep testing will pay $3.5 million to the CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago diagnostics company that provides home sleep testing will pay $3.5 million to the United States to settle a civil lawsuit accusing the company of defrauding Medicare and four other federal health care programs through kickbacks and unnecessary home sleep testing.

June 2, 2022

Connecticut Companies Pay $5.2 Million to Resolve Allegations of False Claims Act Violations Concerning Fraudulently Obtained Small Business Contracts

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that Numet Machining Techniques, LLC (“Numet”), Numet Industries, Inc., KCO Numet, Inc., and Kidd & Company, LLC (collectively the “Numet Entities”), have entered into a civil settlement agreement with the United States and have paid $5,227,355.28 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act when Numet improperly obtained set-aside contracts reserved for small businesses that it was ineligible to receive.