America’s Global Corruption Crusade

Last week, the Justice Department took the boldest action to date in its crackdown on international kleptocrats by suing three men close to Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia for allegedly pilfering more than $3 billion from the government’s investment fund.

The civil complaint accuses the prime minister’s stepson, Riza Aziz, and an ostentatious family friend, Jho Low, of using stolen funds to purchaseluxurious Manhattan condominiums, go on gambling sprees in Las Vegas, acquire $200 million worth of art and bankroll Hollywood films. American prosecutors are seeking to seize more than $1 billion, a record sum in the government’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, which was started in 2010.

Some have accused the United States of overreach as it has stepped up efforts to go after corrupt officials overseas through civil and criminal cases, including the racketeering indictment against leaders of FIFA that rocked the soccer governing body. Others have merely wondered why the United States should be in the business of going after crooked government officials in places like Uzbekistan, Nigeria, Korea and Venezuela.

The answer, in simplest terms, is that American officials have come to see corruption as a major cause of global instability — hindering development, deepening poverty and undermining people’s faith in their governments. It becomes not just a problem for the countries where the corruption occurs but a threat to American national security. read more »

 

Celgene Stock Slides Amid Whistleblower Lawsuit

Shares of Celgene are declining 0.79% to $111.30 in pre-market trading on Monday after a whistleblower alleged that the biotechnology company donated hundreds of millions to charities that help patients afford pricey drugs to ensure its own medicines were covered.

Celgene was consequently able to collect billions of dollars in reimbursements from Medicare and other public health plans, according to the lawsuit by whistleblower Beverly Brown, a former Celgene sales representative, Bloomberg reports.

"Ms. Brown is wrong and her allegations are baseless," a company spokesperson told Bloomberg. Celgene complied with federal rules about charitable donations, the spokesperson said. read more » 

 

Jacintoport International LLC and Seaboard Marine Ltd Agree to Settle False Claims Allegations Related to Delivery of Humanitarian Food Aid

The Justice Department announced today that Jacintoport International LLC (Jacintoport) and Seaboard Marine Ltd. (Seaboard Marine) have agreed to pay $1.075 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the companies violated the False Claims Act in connection with a warehousing and logistics contract for the storage and redelivery of humanitarian food aid.  Jacintoport is a cargo handling and stevedoring firm headquartered in Houston, Texas, and Seaboard Marine, an affiliate of Jacintoport, is an ocean transportation company headquartered in Miami, Florida.

In its lawsuit, the United States alleged that Jacintoport executed in 2007 a warehousing and logistics contract with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the storage and redelivery of emergency humanitarian food aid.  This contract contained explicit caps on the rates Jacintoport could charge ocean carriers to load humanitarian food aid onto ships (referred to as “stevedoring” charges) bound for crisis areas around the world.  The complaint alleges that beginning around January 2008 and continuing through at least October 2009, Jacintoport, under the supervision and control of Seaboard, charged ocean carriers more for stevedoring than permitted to load over 50,000 tons of humanitarian food aid.  These inflated stevedoring charges were subsequently lumped into other costs for delivering humanitarian food aid and passed on to the United States. read more » 

A.G. Schneiderman And U.S. Attorney Hartunian Announce $3.2M Settlement With St. Joseph’S Hospital For Billing Medicaid For Mental Health Services Rendered By Unqualified Staff

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian today announced that St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center (St. Joseph’s) will pay $3.2 million to resolve allegations that it violated the federal and New York False Claims Act by presenting false claims for payment to the state Medicaid program for mental health services rendered by unqualified staff.

Medicaid is a jointly funded federal-state program that provides health care to needy individuals.  St. Joseph’s operates a Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) that provides evaluation and treatment to individuals suffering from an acute mental health crisis.  The CPEP’s “mobile crisis outreach” unit provides initial evaluation and assessment and crisis intervention services to individuals in Onondaga and Madison counties who are unable or unwilling to use hospital-based crisis intervention services in the emergency room.  The mobile crisis unit also provides interim crisis services for patients discharged from the emergency room who require follow up care from a mental health professional. read more » 

 

UBS rogue trader says £1.4bn fraud ‘could happen again’ because of pressure to make profits

A former UBS trader jailed for fraud after losing the bank £1.4 billion has said it could happen again.

Kweku Adoboli, 36, was released from prison last summer after serving half of his seven-year sentence for two counts of fraud.

Asked by the BBC whether bankers’ conduct had changed since his 2012 conviction he replied: “No, certainly not.”

Adoboli said he was sorry for his mistakes but warned his former colleagues were still under the same pressure he was to make money.

“I think the young people I've spoken to, former colleagues I have spoken to, are still struggling with the same issues, the same conflicts, the same pressures to achieve no matter what.

“And this goes back to the structure of the industry. People are required to take risk to generate profit, because yields in the industry are consistently compressed.

“But from a politics angle, the desire is to limit that risk taking, to limit the profitability, but you have these conflicted goals.

“And if investment banks continue to chase the same level of profitability as they have in the past, the only way to generate those profits is to take more risk. read more » 

 

New York Doctor Convicted of Multimillion-Dollar Health Care Fraud

A New York surgeon who practiced at hospitals in Brooklyn and Long Island, New York, was convicted last night for submitting millions of dollars in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Robert L. Capers of the Eastern District of New York, Assistant Director in Charge Diego G. Rodriguez of the FBI’s New York Division and Special Agent in Charge Scott Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) New York Regional Office made the announcement.

Syed Imran Ahmed, 51, of Long Island, New York, was convicted of one count of health care fraud, three counts of making false statements related to health care matters and two counts of money laundering.

According to evidence presented at trial, Ahmed submitted millions of dollars in false claims to the Medicare program for incision-and-drainage and wound debridement surgeries that he did not perform.  Trial evidence showed that many of the claims also falsely stated that the surgeries were performed in an operating room, even though Ahmed never performed the surgeries.  The evidence introduced at trial showed Ahmed submitted over $25 million in false claims to the Medicare program for surgeries he never performed and he received over $3 million from Medicare as payment for the false claims. read more »    

 

Atrium Medical Corp. agrees to $11.5 million settlement

Hudson-based Atrium Medical Corp. has agreed to an $11.5 million settlement with former sales representative and whistle blower Esther Grace Sullivan over claims it paid improper kickbacks to doctors for promoting the unapproved use of medical stents in patients’ arteries.

Grace, who also worked as a territory business manager for Atrium from 2007 to 2012, alleged the company engaged in a nationwide scheme to promote its iCast brand stent for use in the vascular system, even though it had only received federal approved for treating tracheobronchial obstructions.

According to a press release by the Dallas law firm Standly Hamilton LLP, Atrium used a system of referral dinners to induce physicians to implant the stents in the arteries of elderly patients while submitting payment claims to Medicare. The lawsuit also alleged Atrium provided financial grants and other kickbacks to doctors in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. read more »

 

Hedge fund tied to Kickback probe used 'checkered' valuation firm

Platinum Partners, which is under federal investigation over whether it inflated the value of its investments, turned to an outside firm with a checkered past to sign off on its methods, The Post has learned.

Until this year, the $1.3 billion hedge fund, which is at the center of a kickback scandal and a fraud investigation, used Sterling Valuation Group as its valuation firm, company documents show.

The same firm also approved investment valuations for Alphonse “Buddy” Fletcher, whose hedge fund collapsed in 2012. A report by a court-appointed bankruptcy examiner found that Fletcher’s fund had inflated the value of investments and bore “many of the characteristics of a Ponzi scheme.”

Prosecutors are now probing whether some of Platinum’s investments were known to be worth less than what the fund told investors, said a source familiar with the investigation by the Brooklyn US attorney. Platinum has said it stands by its valuation methods. read more »

Honeywell Will Face Feds' Amended Body Armor FCA Suit

A D.C. federal court on Friday allowed the federal government to file an amended complaint in an 8-year-old False Claims Act suit against Honeywell International Inc. over allegedly defective body armor, asserting that letting the U.S. add a data manipulation allegation will not cause unfair delays to Honeywell's case.

U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled that the U.S. may make amendments regarding Honeywell's alleged manipulation of warehouse data about its Z Shield product to make it look more favorable, as well as allegations about the fragility of the Z Shield's water-based coating. read more »