Find Corporate Waste

Tag: DOJ

  • Indian National Charged with Falsely Claiming U.S. Citizenship to Vote in 2024 Election

    Indian National Charged with Falsely Claiming U.S. Citizenship to Vote in 2024 Election

    A federal grand jury has indicted an Indian national for allegedly falsely claiming to be a United States citizen to cast a ballot in the 2024 general election.

    According to the Justice Department⁠, Mukeshkumar Somabhai Chaudhari signed a voter certificate required under Minnesota law on November 5, 2024. By signing the certificate, Chaudhari allegedly swore or affirmed that he was a U.S. citizen.

    Federal prosecutors allege that Chaudhari was not a citizen and knowingly made the false statement to vote in the election.

    Two Federal Charges

    A federal grand jury in the District of Minnesota returned a two-count indictment charging Chaudhari with:

    Section 1015(f) makes it a federal crime to knowingly make a false statement or claim of U.S. citizenship to register to vote or cast a ballot in a federal, state, or local election.

    If convicted, Chaudhari faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison on each count. Any sentence would be determined by a federal judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    Election-Integrity Investigation

    Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation with assistance from the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office. Trial Attorneys Flavio Abreu and William Rubens of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.

    The indictment shows how a false statement on an election document can trigger criminal liability under more than one federal provision. Although state and local officials principally administer elections, federal law separately prohibits knowingly misrepresenting U.S. citizenship to register or vote.

    Find Corporate Waste tracks federal prosecutions involving false statements, public-integrity safeguards, and the misuse of government systems.

  • Pennsylvania Medical Supplier Billed $1.3B in Five Months, DOJ Says

    Pennsylvania Medical Supplier Billed $1.3B in Five Months, DOJ Says

    A Pennsylvania medical supplier allegedly submitted $1.3 billion in fraudulent health care claims during a five-month period, according to the Department of Justice⁠.

    Federal prosecutors charged Erekle Gugava, 33, a Georgian national, with conspiring to launder proceeds from the alleged scheme.

    Gugava purportedly owned ND Medical Solutions LLC from February through July 2025. During that period, the durable medical equipment company allegedly billed Medicare, supplemental insurers, employer-sponsored plans and other insurers for equipment that patients never received.

    Insurers paid ND Medical approximately $6.5 million.

    Prosecutors allege the claims relied partly on stolen identities belonging to elderly and disabled Americans. Many beneficiaries reportedly contacted Medicare and its contractors after receiving benefit statements listing equipment they had never requested, doctors they had never visited and a supplier they did not recognize.

    Gugava allegedly opened several ND Medical bank accounts, deposited insurance payments and helped transfer the proceeds to overseas accounts benefiting a transnational criminal organization based in Russia and elsewhere.

  • Mount Sinai Reaches DOJ Agreement Amid False Claims Act Investigation

    Logo of Mount Sinai Hospital featuring stylized mountain graphics in blue and pink, with the text 'Mount Sinai Hospital' to the right.

    Mount Sinai Health System has reached an agreement with the Justice Department resolving a federal investigation into its provision of gender-transition procedures to minors.

    Under the agreement, Mount Sinai will stop providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgical procedures to minors.

    The health system will also pay a monetary penalty and dedicate $2 million to free medical care for individuals who report harmful consequences from gender-transition treatment received as children.

    The agreement stems from a nationwide Justice Department investigation that includes potential violations of the False Claims Act and federal health care laws.

    According to the Justice Department, investigators are examining whether providers used false diagnosis codes or other billing practices to obtain reimbursement from federal health programs and private insurers for pediatric gender-transition procedures.

    The investigation follows a January 2025 executive order directing federal agencies to take enforcement action concerning pediatric gender-transition procedures, including fraud investigations.

    Mount Sinai has allegedly ‘cooperated’ with the investigation.

    For Find Corporate Waste, the development signals another emerging area of federal health care enforcement where billing records, diagnosis coding, and federal reimbursement may become central to future False Claims Act investigations and whistleblower cases.

  • Complete Health Pays $14.1M Over Inflated Medicare Advantage Diagnoses

    Complete Health Pays $14.1M Over Inflated Medicare Advantage Diagnoses

    Complete Health Partners Holdings will pay $14.1 million to settle allegations that it used unsupported patient diagnoses to increase Medicare Advantage payments.

    The Jacksonville, Florida-based company manages and operates affiliated medical groups in Florida, Alabama and Colorado.

    Under its contracts with Medicare Advantage insurers, Complete Health received a percentage of the payments those insurers collected from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Because CMS pays more for patients coded as having serious medical conditions, Complete Health stood to profit when patient risk scores increased.

    According to the Justice Department⁠, Complete Health submitted unsupported diagnoses between 2020 and 2023 involving drug and alcohol dependence, major depression, bipolar disorder and paranoid disorders.

    Federal officials alleged that the company distributed incorrect coding guidance, searched medical records for additional diagnoses and prompted physicians to add conditions that were not clinically justified or properly supported.

    Those diagnoses increased payments from CMS to Medicare Advantage insurers. The insurers then passed part of the additional money to Complete Health.

    The case was brought under the False Claims Act by Karen Bowers, a former associate director of risk adjustment at VIVA Health. Bowers will receive approximately $2.47 million from the federal recovery.

    The settlement shows why insiders remain critical to exposing Medicare Advantage fraud. Employees who understand coding guidance, physician prompts, risk-adjustment reviews and payment arrangements may be able to identify when patient conditions are being exaggerated to extract more taxpayer money.

  • Boston Eye Practice to Pay $3.9M Over Unsupported Medicare Billing

    Boston Eye Practice to Pay $3.9M Over Unsupported Medicare Billing

    Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston, Inc. has agreed to pay $3.9 million to resolve allegations that it improperly billed Medicare and MassHealth for office visits performed alongside eye injections.

    According to the Justice Department⁠, OCB submitted the claims between January 2015 and July 2025. Federal and state billing rules generally prohibit providers from separately charging for an office visit when it is conducted as part of an intravitreal injection appointment, except under limited circumstances.

    Prosecutors alleged that OCB used Modifier 25 to bill for additional office visits without documentation establishing that the services were separately identifiable and medically necessary.

    The settlement credits OCB for cooperating with the government’s investigation. It resolves allegations and does not constitute a determination of liability.

    The case began with a sealed whistleblower lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act. The unidentified relator will receive an undisclosed portion of the recovery.

    The settlement demonstrates how unsupported billing modifiers can turn routine coding practices into substantial taxpayer losses. For healthcare insiders, recurring use of Modifier 25 without matching clinical documentation may provide the evidence needed to expose systematic overbilling.

  • Abusive Michigan Day Care Owner Billed Medicare for Dead Patients

    Abusive Michigan Day Care Owner Billed Medicare for Dead Patients

    A Michigan adult day care owner pleaded guilty to billing Medicare for psychotherapy services that were never provided, including sessions supposedly performed after patients had died.

    According to the Justice Department⁠, Yolanda Matthews, 58, of Farmington Hills, submitted more than $539,000 in false Medicare claims.

    Matthews admitted billing for services while beneficiaries were hospitalized and filing claims under the names of social workers who no longer worked at her adult day care center. She also billed Medicare for treating beneficiaries after their deaths.

    Matthews pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud after being charged through the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown. She faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced on Nov. 18.

    Both Matthews and her husband were previously found responsible for abusing patients in their care.

    Link to allegations: https://adultfostercare.apps.lara.state.mi.us/Home/ViewReport/341911
  • NYC Correction Officers Among Defendants in $3M Fake Check Scheme

    NYC Correction Officers Among Defendants in $3M Fake Check Scheme

    Federal prosecutors charged eight defendants in a check-fraud scheme involving current and former New York City correction officers, a Texas parole officer and an MTA employee.

    According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York⁠, Bianca Vieux allegedly recruited participants through an encrypted messaging platform. Recruits provided bank-account information so falsified checks could be deposited and withdrawn as cash.

    The defendants allegedly created or deposited more than $3 million in fake checks and obtained over $500,000. Prosecutors say the proceeds funded luxury handbags, plastic surgery and tropical vacations.

    Christopher Walker, a current NYC correction officer, allegedly made one fraudulent deposit while wearing his Department of Correction uniform. Former correction officer Valeria Waldron later worked as a Texas parole officer, while Steven Boyce worked for the New York City Transit Authority.

    Walker allegedly obtained fake checks and documents from other fraudsters. Boyce is accused of producing fraudulent Social Security cards for him.

    Two former correction officers, Aaron Warren and Tara Dildy, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and await sentencing.

  • Dallas Lab and Founders Pay $24M Over COVID Testing Claims

    Dallas Lab and Founders Pay $24M Over COVID Testing Claims

    Dallas-based Magnolia Diagnostics, its owners and several investors will pay $24 million to resolve allegations involving medically unnecessary testing performed on seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    According to the Justice Department⁠, Magnolia and owners John Bains and Kelly Bains agreed to pay $19.2 million to settle False Claims Act allegations. Investors will pay another $4.8 million over distributions they received from the laboratory.

    Federal officials alleged Magnolia required senior living communities seeking COVID-19 testing to also obtain expensive respiratory pathogen panels. The laboratory allegedly used prepopulated forms and provider signatures as standing orders covering entire facilities without individual clinical assessments.

    Magnolia allegedly continued performing the panels even after communities questioned their medical necessity or requested COVID-19-only testing. John Bains was also accused of threatening to withhold COVID-19 testing and altering signed requisition forms to broaden their apparent authorization.

    The laboratory allegedly froze thousands of specimens for weeks or months before testing them, producing results too late to guide treatment or infection-control decisions.

    The case provides a glimpse into how qui tam enforcement under the Trump administration has evolved, specifically in the Northern District of Texas.

    This settlement also offers a roadmap for Find Corporate Waste projects: follow the money beyond the entity that submitted the claims to the owners, affiliates and investors who ultimately received the proceeds.

    Public records showing where taxpayer funds flowed may expose recovery targets beyond those which can be indexed from public records, even when the recipients never billed the government directly.

  • Brooklyn Adult Day Care Owner Gets 57 Months for $3.2M Medicaid Fraud

    Brooklyn Adult Day Care Owner Gets 57 Months for $3.2M Medicaid Fraud

    Brooklyn adult day care owner Eric Zhu surrendered to federal prison to begin serving 57 months for operating a $3.2 million Medicaid fraud and kickback scheme.

    According to the Department of Justice⁠, Zhu, 29, owned Prime Life Adult Day Care LLC.

    From approximately 2020 through 2025, Prime Life paid Medicaid recipients illegal cash kickbacks to enroll in its social adult day care program. The company then billed Medicaid approximately $3.2 million for services those recipients never received.

    Prosecutors said Medicaid paid the fraudulent claims in full. Zhu used multiple business entities to launder the proceeds and generate cash for the kickbacks. Investigators recovered some of that cash during a search of Prime Life.

    Zhu was ordered to pay nearly $3.2 million in restitution and forfeit another $1.5 million in fraud proceeds.

  • Census Bureau Manager Took $790K in Contract Kickbacks

    Census Bureau Manager Took $790K in Contract Kickbacks

    A former U.S. Census Bureau program manager was sentenced to two years in prison for steering a multimillion-dollar federal contract to a relative’s company in exchange for $790,000 in kickbacks.

    Yolanda Jones of Maryland has agreed to settle allegations she misappropriated federal funds.

    According to the Justice Department⁠, Camille T. Jones, 47, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, directed an employee-assistance program contract and later modifications toward a prime contractor and YMJ Consulting, a subcontractor owned by her relative, Yolanda M. Jones.

    Prosecutors said Camille Jones tried to disguise the kickbacks through a fabricated service agreement between YMJ Consulting and her mental-health company. The agreement was signed in 2024 but backdated to 2020 before being provided to investigators.

    Jones also admitted sharing confidential Census Bureau procurement information with another government contractor. That contractor hired another relative for a minimal-work position paying $83,000, although Jones allegedly performed most of the work.

    Jones pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and honest-services fraud. She must also forfeit the scheme’s proceeds and serve one year of supervised release.