Jan. 31, 2025

Arizona Couple Pleads Guilty to $1.2B Health Care Fraud

An Arizona couple pleaded guilty for causing over $1.2 billion of false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to Medicare and other health insurance programs for expensive, medically unnecessary wound grafts that were applied to elderly and terminally ill patients.

Jan. 30, 2025

Cracked and Nulled Marketplaces Disrupted in International Cyber Operation

The Justice Department today announced its participation in a multinational operation involving actions in the United States, Romania, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Greece to disrupt and take down the infrastructure of the online cybercrime marketplaces known as Cracked and Nulled. The operation was announced in conjunction with Operation Talent, a multinational law enforcement operation supported by Europol to investigate Cracked and Nulled.

Jan. 24, 2025

Glen Burnie Man Sentenced to Federal Prison in Connection With Multi-State Dogfighting Conspiracy

U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Mario Damon Flythe, 50, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, to six months in federal prison and six months of home detention – followed by three years of supervised release; a $10,000 fine, and an additional $2,800 in a forfeiture money judgment, for his involvement in a multi-state dogfighting conspiracy.

Jan. 24, 2025

Pfizer Agrees to Pay Nearly 60M to Resolve False Claims Allegations Relating to Improper Physician Payments by Subsidiary

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer), on behalf of its wholly-owned subsidiary Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd. (Biohaven), has agreed to pay $59,746,277 to resolve allegations that, prior to Pfizer’s acquisition of the company, Biohaven knowingly caused the submission of false claims to Medicare and other federal health care programs by paying kickbacks to health care providers to induce prescriptions of Biohaven’s drug Nurtec ODT.

Jan. 23, 2025

C.R. Bard, Inc. and Affiliates Pay $17 Million to Resolve Allegations of Healthcare Kickbacks

C.R. Bard, Inc. (“Bard”) and its affiliates, Liberator Medical Supply, Inc., Liberator Holdings and Rochester Medical Corporation (collectively the “Liberator Defendants”), have agreed to pay $17 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act and various state false claims act statutes by providing free samples and discounts to encourage urology practice groups to use Bard’s prescription form for prescribing intermittent catheters for their patients.

Jan. 23, 2025

Defense Contractor Executive Pleads Guilty to Bribery Scheme Involving $100 Million in Government Contracts

Russell Thurston, a former executive vice president at Cambridge International Systems, Inc., a defense contractor headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that he participated in a bribery scheme with other Cambridge employees and former Naval Information Warfare Center employee James Soriano.

Jan. 23, 2025

Pain-Management Doctor and Medical Practice to Pay $3.5 Million to Resolve False Claims Act and Control Substances Act Allegations

Dr. Kamal Kabakibou and his medical practice, Kamal Kabakibou, M.D., P.C., doing business as “The Center for Pain Management,” have settled claims under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) and the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) arising from their alleged billing for medically unnecessary testing and for pre-signing opioid prescriptions to be dispensed by a nurse practitioner while Dr. Kabakibou was out of the country. As part of the settlement, they will jointly pay $3.5 million to the United States and have agreed to submit regular monitoring reports to the Drug Enforcement Administration for the next five years. Dr. Kabakibou and his medical practice have also entered into a three-year integrity agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), which includes an annual claims review by an independent review organization.

Jan. 21, 2025

Military contractor to pay $1.2 million to United States to settle False Claims Act allegations

Neuro Stat Analytical Solutions, LLC (Neurostat), a Texas company that contracted with the United States Air Force to, among other things, develop and implement psychological assessments and occupational health stress screening tools, has agreed to pay $1.2 million to the United States to settle False Claims Act and related allegations.

Jan. 17, 2025

Pharmacist guilty in $110 million dollar kickback conspiracy

A 55-year-old McAllen man has pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay kickbacks in exchange for prescription referrals, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. John Ageudo Rodriguez, a licensed pharmacist, owned and operated a pharmacy in Pharr called Pharr Family Pharmacy. Rodriguez admitted he paid kickbacks in excess of $24 million to various marketers. The marketers had relationships with physicians and clinics and could cause prescriptions for expensive compound drugs to be referred to Rodriguez’s pharmacy.

Jan. 17, 2025

Justice Department Files Nationwide Lawsuit Alleging Walgreens Knowingly Filled Millions of Prescriptions that Lacked a Legitimate Medical Purpose

In a civil complaint filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the Justice Department alleges that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Walgreen Co. and various subsidiaries (collectively, Walgreens) dispensed millions of unlawful prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and then sought reimbursement for many of these prescriptions from various federal health care programs in violation the False Claims Act (FCA). Walgreens is one of the country’s largest pharmacy chains, with over 8,000 pharmacies across the United States.