Whistleblowers Will Receive $3.6M For Reporting Healthcare Company’s False Medicare Claims

Less than a week after federal authorities conducted a massive crackdown on medical fraud, arresting more than 400 individuals, the Department of Justice announced that three Ohio-based healthcare companies and their executives would pay $19.5 million to resolve allegations they falsified Medicare claims for unnecessary services that allegedly harmed patients.

Each of the companies were sued in 2011 and 2012 by former employees under the federal False Claims Act, which allows individuals to sue on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery. read more »

Ex-Credit Suisse banker pleads guilty in U.S. offshore tax case

A former Credit Suisse Group AG banker from Switzerland pleaded guilty on Wednesday to participating in a wide-ranging scheme to help Americans hide millions of dollars in offshore accounts to evade U.S. taxes.

Susanne Rüegg Meier, a former manager with Credit Suisse, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia to conspiring to defraud the United States through her work heading of a team of bankers, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Her plea came six years after the Swiss citizen was indicted in 2011 in what was one of a number of cases spilling out of a broad crackdown by the United States on offshore tax evasion by Americans.

The probe led to charges against several other bankers and resulted in Credit Suisse pleading guilty in 2014 to conspiring to aid and assist taxpayers in filing false returns as part of a $2.6 billion settlement. read more »

Man pleads guilty in $3 million Haitian bribery scheme

The former general manager of a Florida-based telecommunications company has pleaded guilty for his role in a $3 million Haitian bribery scheme.

Court records show 66-year-old Amadeus Richers, who headed Cinergy and Uniplex, pleaded guilty in Miami federal court Wednesday to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 20.

Plea documents show Richers and others paid bribes from 2001 to 2004 to foreign officials employed by the state-owned Telecommunications D'Haiti and to a foreign official in the executive branch of the Haitian government in order to secure a favorable contract.

Lessons From Brazil: Crisis, Corruption and Global Cooperation

Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco Speaks at the Atlantic Council Inter-American Dialogue Event

“Anti-corruption prosecutors everywhere are driven by similar principles: bribery of public officials is wrong, it has a devastating effect on our national security and civilized societies, and intentional violations of anti-corruption laws must be treated as serious crimes. Those who violate the law must be punished, and their illegally obtained assets must be taken from them. As we have seen across the globe time and again, corruption inhibits fair and free competition to the detriment of innocent citizens and honest businesses that do not pay bribes.

The United States Department of Justice remains committed to enforcing the FCPA and to prosecuting fraud and corruption more generally. To succeed on this commitment, we will always seek, when appropriate, to further our investigations through cooperation with countries like Brazil – a country that shares our commitment to rooting out corruption at all levels.” read more »