Former CEO struggles to defend why Equifax deserves $7 million IRS contract to prevent fraud

Equifax’s former chief executive Richard Smith repeatedly deflected questions from a Senate panel Wednesday about a $7 million IRS contract the company recently received to help prevent fraud and whether the company could profit from the hack that exposed sensitive data of 145 million people.

“Can you explain to the American people, not just as consumers who have been exposed and breached here, but as taxpayers, why in the world should you get a no-bid contract right now?” asked Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.). Smith responded that he didn’t know the specifics of the contract but that he thought it was for work the company was already doing and that the contract was just being renewed.

“You realize to many Americans right now that it looks like we’re giving Lindsay Lohan the keys to the mini bar,” said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.). Smith stared at Kennedy for a few seconds then said he understood the appearance. read more »

Med-Fast paying $2.7M to settle claims it recycled drugs

A pharmacy chain has agreed to pay nearly $2.7 million to settle federal claims that it illegally recycled unused nursing home medications and overcharged government insurance programs for diabetic test strips, federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh said Wednesday.

The settlement concerns Aliquippa-based Med-Fast Pharmacy and its in-house subsidiary,Iserve Technologies, which operates retail pharmacies, a mail-order prescription service and drug deliveries to nursing homes and other agencies throughout western Pennsylvania.

Two former Med-Fast employees also have been charged in the scheme.

The criminal investigations grew out of a pair of whistleblower lawsuits filed by two other employees in 2013. The government intervened in the lawsuits because they involved federal drug labeling and Medicare billing regulations.  

Contractors will pay $3 million settlement after allegedly obtaining contracts improperly

A Darien business owner is among those set to pay more than $3 million to settle False Claims Act allegations.

The payment settles allegations they improperly obtaining federal set-aside contracts designated for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, according to the federal Justice Department. read more »