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Paris-based global financial institution BNP Paribas has agreed to pay $80 million to settle allegations that it knowingly submitted or caused the submission of false claims for payment guarantees issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of Justice announced last week.

The United States filed a lawsuit against BNP Paribas in connection with its receipt of payment guarantees under USDA’s Supplier Credit Guarantee (SCG) Program.  The program provided payment guarantees to U.S.-based exporters for their sales of grain and other agricultural commodities to importers in foreign countries.  The program encouraged American exporters to sell American agricultural commodities to foreign importers and covered part of the losses if the foreign importers failed to pay.  The SCG Program regulations provided that U.S. exporters were ineligible to participate in the SCG Program if the exporter and foreign importer were under common ownership or control.

The judgment entered by the court resolves the government’s allegations that BNP Paribas participated in a sustained scheme to defraud the SCG Program.  American exporters and Mexican importers who were under common control improperly obtained SCG Program export credit guarantees for transactions between the affiliated exporters and importers.  In some cases, the underlying transactions were shams and did not involve any real shipment of grain.  BNP Paribas accepted assignment of the credit guarantees from the American exporters, even though it knew that the affiliated exporters and importers were ineligible for SCG Program financing, and a BNP Paribas vice-president, Jerry Cruz, received bribes from the exporters.  When the Mexican importers began defaulting on their payment obligations, BNP Paribas submitted claims to the USDA for the resulting losses.

On Jan. 20, 2012, Cruz pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.  

The False Claims Act allows private parties with knowledge of fraud against the government to sue on behalf of the government and share in the recovery.  Had there been a whistleblower in this case, he or she would have been eligible to receive up to 30 percent of the settlement.

The Chanler Group, in association with the Hirst Law Group, represents whistleblowers who take action under the False Claims Act to report fraud committed against the federal and state governments.  We have years of experience representing whistleblower clients who expose every kind of fraud against the government, including health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud.  Read more about our expertise in False Claims Act cases and how you can take action.

Alabama-based Infirmary Health System (IHS), two affiliated clinics, and Diagnostic Physicians Group P.C. (DPG) have agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle allegations that they knowingly submitted or cause the submission of false claims to the Medicare program, the U.S. Department of Justice announced earlier this week.

Two IHS affiliated clinics—IMC-Diagnostic and Medical Clinic, in Mobile, and IMC-Northside Clinic, in Saraland, Alabama—allegedly had agreements with DPG to pay the group a percentage of Medicare payments for tests and procedures referred by DPG physicians, in violation of the Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute.  Also named in the lawsuit was Infirmary Medical Clinics P.C. (IMC), an affiliate of IHS that directly owns and operates approximately 30 clinics in the Mobile area, including the two clinics involved in this lawsuit.

The Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law are intended to ensure that a physician’s medical judgment is not compromised by improper financial incentives.  The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by federal health care programs, including Medicare.  The Stark Law forbids a hospital or clinic from billing Medicare for certain services referred by physicians who have a financial relationship with the entity.

IMC allegedly purchased IMC-Diagnostic and Medical Clinic from DPG and agreed to pay DPG a share of the revenues the clinics collected, including Medicare revenues from diagnostic imaging and laboratory tests.  After IMC acquired the IMC-Northside Clinic in 2008, the physicians practicing there joined DPG and entered into an agreement with the same key terms as the earlier agreement with IMC-Diagnostic and Medical Clinic.  The government contended that these payments were illegal kickbacks and constituted a prohibited financial relationship under the Stark Law, and that an attorney for DPG warned employees of both IMC and DPG that the compensation being paid to the physicians likely violated the law.  Nevertheless, the agreements allegedly were neither modified nor terminated for another 18 months.

The lawsuit was originally filed by Dr. Christian Heesch, a former DPG employee, under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act.  The Act allows private parties with knowledge of fraud against the government to sue on behalf of the government and share in the recovery.  Dr. Heesch will receive $4.41 million as his portion of the settlement.

The Chanler Group, in association with the Hirst Law Group, represents whistleblowers who take action under the False Claims Act to report fraud committed against the federal and state governments.  We have years of experience representing whistleblower clients who expose every kind of fraud against the government, including health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud.  Read more about our expertise in False Claims Act cases and how you can take action.

HSBC has agreed to pay $10 million to settle allegations that the company knowingly submitted or caused the submission of false claims to federal housing and mortgage programs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced last week.

HSBC performs or oversees the performance of certain administrative activities in connection with residential mortgage loans, such as collecting mortgage payments and pursuing foreclosure when borrowers become delinquent. In pursuing foreclosure on behalf of HSBC, outside counsel and other third-party providers of foreclosure-related services, such as title companies and process servers, incur fees and expenses. HSBC has routinely submitted reimbursement requests to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) for these foreclosure-related fees and expenses.

Pursuant to the National Housing Act, FHA offers mortgage insurance programs whereby it insures lenders against losses on mortgage loans, including expenses related to mortgage servicing, and specifically, expenses incurred in foreclosure proceedings. HSBC has been an approved servicer of FHA-insured loans for many years. In order to obtain and maintain FHA approval to service FHA-insured loans, HSBC was required to submit and did submit annual certifications stating that it adhered to all FHA handbooks, regulations and policies. One such handbook requires servicers to create and maintain a quality control program that reviews all aspects of servicing operations, including foreclosure fees and charges.

HSBC has also been an approved servicer of loans held by Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae is a government sponsored enterprise that purchases mortgage loans as part of its mission to promote liquidity in the housing market. Fannie Mae has been under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency since September 2008. As part of its obligations as a loan servicer for Fannie Mae, HSBC was required to create and implement audit and control systems to ensure compliance with Fannie Mae’s requirements. Specifically, as a servicer of Fannie Mae loans, HSBC was required to ensure that all costs submitted to Fannie Mae for reimbursement were reasonable, customary and necessary.

As set forth in the settlement, contrary to program requirements and HSBC’s certifications, HSBC failed to implement and maintain the requisite quality controls, failed to oversee the foreclosure-related charges it submitted to FHA and Fannie Mae for reimbursement, and caused millions of dollars in losses to FHA and Fannie Mae as a result.

The lawsuit was originally filed by an unnamed whistleblower under the qui tam provision of the False Claims Act.  The Act allows private parties with knowledge of fraud against the government to sue on behalf of the government and share in the recovery.  The original whistleblower suit remains under seal as the government continues its investigation.

The Chanler Group, in association with the Hirst Law Group, represents whistleblowers who take action under the False Claims Act to report fraud committed against the federal and state governments.  We have years of experience representing whistleblower clients who expose every kind of fraud against the government, including health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud.  Read more about our expertise in False Claims Act cases and how you can take action.

A federal judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled last week that the U.S. Justice Department may proceed with its False Claims Act lawsuit against Lance Armstrong, alleging that the cyclist defrauded the government when he accepted sponsorship money from the U.S. Postal Service  while taking performance-enhancing drugs, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Armstrong argued that the case should be dismissed on the grounds that USPS willfully ignored the doping prevalent in the sport while reaping millions of dollars from the publicity generated by the cyclist provided under the sponsorship.  Attorneys for the embattled cyclist also argued that the suit is time-barred under applicable statutes of limitation, as the government’s allegations involve events that occurred more than nine years prior to the filing of the lawsuit.  The Justice Department took the position that Armstrong’s cycling team defrauded the government when it accepted the sponsorship money while violating the terms of the sponsorship agreement, which required the team to follow the bylaws of cycling’s governing bodies.  Armstrong admitted to doping last year and was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. 

Floyd Landis, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong, initiated the lawsuit under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act.  The Act allows private parties with knowledge of fraud against the government to sue on behalf of the government and share in the recovery.

The Chanler Group, in association with the Hirst Law Group, represents whistleblowers who take action under the False Claims Act to report fraud committed against the federal and state governments.  We have years of experience representing whistleblower clients who expose every kind of fraud against the government, including health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud.  Read more about our expertise in False Claims Act cases and how you can take action.

Elizabethtown Hematology Oncology, PLC (EHO) and its owners have agreed to pay $3.7 million to resolve allegations that they knowingly submitted or caused the submission of false claims to federal health care programs Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP), the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Kentucky announced earlier this month.

According to the settlement agreement, Dr. Rafiq Ur Rahman and Dr. Yusuf K. Deshmukh, owners of Elizabethtown Hematology Oncology, PLC (EHO), billed Medicare, TRICARE, FEHBP and Medicaid for unnecessary office visit evaluations at the same time patients were receiving chemotherapy or other types of infusion treatments. The United States and Commonwealth of Kentucky contend that EHO did this by improperly billing evaluation and management codes using Modifier-25 (allows for billing evaluation and management necessary prior to the performance of a procedure).

The United States and Commonwealth of Kentucky further contend that Dr. Rahman, Dr. Deshmukh, and EHO unnecessarily and improperly extended the duration of chemotherapy infusion treatment times for their patients in order to improperly bill Medicare, TRICARE, FEHBP and Medicaid for those additional hours of chemotherapy infusion treatments.

The lawsuit was originally filed by Dr. Ijaz Mahmood, a former employee of EHO, under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act.  The Act allows private parties with knowledge of fraud against the government to sue on behalf of the government and share in the recovery.  Dr. Mahmood will receive $283,412.90 as his portion of the settlement.

The Chanler Group, in association with the Hirst Law Group, represents whistleblowers who take action under the False Claims Act to report fraud committed against the federal and state governments.  We have years of experience representing whistleblower clients who expose every kind of fraud against the government, including health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud.  Read more about our expertise in False Claims Act cases and how you can take action.