An owner of two Houston health care companies pleaded guilty today in connection with a $6.3 million Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS).

BP Products North America Inc. has agreed to pay a $15 million penalty to resolve federal Clean Air Act violations at its Texas City, Texas, petroleum refinery.

A New Orleans-area medical doctor and the owner and operator of a medical equipment company each pleaded guilty today for their roles in a Baton Rouge-area durable medical equipment (DME) health care fraud scheme.

Princewill Njoku, 51, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Gray Miller in Houston to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Seventy-three defendants, including a number of alleged members and associates of an Armenian-American organized crime enterprise, were charged in indictments unsealed today in five judicial districts with various health care fraud-related crimes involving more than $163 million in fraudulent billing.

A patient recruiter and operator of a Detroit-area home health agency was sentenced to 63 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program.

Seven additional Houston-area residents who allegedly served as patient recruiters and a nurse have been charged for their alleged participation in a $5 million Medicare home healthcare fraud scheme.

"This morning, we filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Michigan against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan alleging that provisions in their agreements with hospitals stifle competition, resulting in higher health insurance prices for consumers in Michigan," said Assistant Attorney General Varney.

The Justice Department today announced that it has entered into a comprehensive settlement agreement that will transform the state of Georgia’s mental health and developmental disability system and resolve a lawsuit the United States brought against the state.

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) to resolve allegations that CHW engaged in a pattern or practice of citizenship status discrimination by imposing unnecessary and discriminatory hurdles to employment for work-authorized individuals.

Two Miami health care companies and four owners and senior managers of the companies were indicted today for their alleged participation in a fraud scheme involving approximately $200 million in Medicare billing for purported mental health services.

The United States has asked a federal court in Chicago to permanently bar John E. Rogers, a Chicago tax lawyer and former partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, from promoting tax shelters that allegedly use distressed Brazilian debt to illegally lower customers’ reported income.

Gregory Mussmacher was convicted by a jury in May 2010 for physically abusing a juvenile in his custody and for obstructing justice to cover up what he had done.

A global freight forwarding company, as well as five oil and gas service companies and subsidiaries, have all agreed to resolve investigations of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations.

Offshore Vessels LLC (OSV) was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $1,750,000 and remit a payment of $350,000 as community service to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Today, Department of Justice Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited Brooklyn, N.Y., where they participated in the third Regional Health Care Fraud Prevention Summit.

The Justice Department today announced that Harry Norman Realtors (HNR) and Jennifer Sherrouse have agreed to pay monetary damages and civil penalties of $60,000 to settle a Fair Housing Act lawsuit alleging that they discriminated against families with children.

Mohammed El-Fallal was also sentenced by U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood in the Eastern District of Michigan to two years of supervised release following his prison term and was ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution.

"We’re now seeing a convergence of opportunity and innovative thinking in the correctional health care arena," said Assistant Attorney General Robinson.

Four Detroit-area residents were arrested today by federal agents from the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and FBI as part of an ongoing investigation into a $14.5 million home health care fraud scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and HHS.

The proposed consent decree resolves claims of the United States and the commonwealth under the Clean Air Act and related provisions of the laws of the commonwealth.

RAE Systems Inc., a publicly-traded U.S. corporation headquartered in San Jose, Calif., has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay a $1.7 million penalty for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited Boston today, where they participated in the fourth Regional Health Care Fraud Prevention Summit.

The Justice Department announced today the filing of a complaint against the city of Brockton, Mass., and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for violating the rights of an Iraq war veteran.

Yudel Cayro, owner and operator of Courtesy Medical Group Inc., a medical clinic in Miami, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for his role in a wide-ranging Medicare fraud scheme involving Miami-area home health agencies.

A former principal of a wealth management firm pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to causing the Hillary Clinton for President Committee unwittingly to submit false statements to the Federal Election Commission.

Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO) has signed a settlement agreement in which it has agreed to invest approximately $600 million in pollution control technology to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act.

Two owners of a Houston health care company pleaded guilty today in connection with an alleged $5.2 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today released a new report showing that the government’s health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts recovered more than $4 billion in taxpayer dollars in Fiscal Year 2010.

"The Departments of Justice and HHS have a long history of working together in this fight against health care fraud. While we know that most health care dollars are spent on healing sick Americans and most companies and providers work hard to play by the rules, we also know that too much money is lost to fraud and abuse. So, we have been fighting back together, on behalf of American taxpayers and patients."

An Illinois food processing company has agreed to pay a $390,000 civil penalty to the United States to settle allegations that its Baxter Springs, Kan., processing facility overloaded the city’s wastewater treatment system with millions of gallons of industrial wastewater, at times causing pollution along a 22-mile-long section of the Spring River in southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma.

Maxwell Technologies Inc. has agreed to pay an $8 million criminal penalty to resolve charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for bribing Chinese government officials to secure sales of Maxwell’s products to state-owned manufacturers of electric-utility infrastructure in several Chinese provinces.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas ordered that Juan Antonio Gaona must adhere to a 25-foot buffer zone around a Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services Clinic in San Antonio, Texas.

Eight Miami-area nurses were sentenced to prison today for their roles in an $18.7 million Medicare fraud scheme involving home health care.

Tyson Foods Inc. has agreed to pay a $4 million criminal penalty to resolve an investigation into improper payments by company representatives to government-employed inspection veterinarians in Mexico.

The Justice Department announced today that Dalton Township, Mich., will pay $62,500 to settle a lawsuit alleging that the township discriminated against a group home for persons recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A medical assistant was sentenced today to 36 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program, the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services announced.

Twenty individuals, including three doctors, were charged today in the Southern District of Florida for various health care fraud, kickback and money laundering charges related to their alleged participation in a fraud scheme involving approximately $200 million in Medicare billing for purported mental health services.

One hundred and two members and associates of transnational organized criminal groups operating in the United States have been charged in indictments unsealed today in Los Angeles; Santa Ana, Calif.; Miami and Denver.

The Department of Justice reached a settlement today with United Regional Health Care System of Wichita Falls, Texas, that prohibits it from entering into contracts that improperly inhibit commercial health insurers from contracting with United Regional’s competitors.

A federal court in Detroit has ordered Ypsilanti, Mich., property owner and Washtenaw County Commissioner Ronnie Peterson, and his former manager Glen E. Johnson to pay a total of $82,500 in civil penalties in a sexual harassment case.

The U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state of West Virginia announced today that Consol Energy Inc., the largest producer of coal from underground mines in the United States, has agreed to pay a $5.5 million civil penalty for Clean Water Act violations at six of its mines in West Virginia.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited Detroit today to participate in the fifth regional health care fraud prevention summit.

"This summit is an important step forward – an opportunity to build on what has been discussed, and achieved, since January of last year – when Secretary Sebelius and I convened the first “National Summit on Health Care Fraud” in Washington."

"This conference comes at an important moment in Russia’s efforts to strengthen its rule of law. In the Justice Department, we have long recognized corruption as a transnational problem. Corruption affects countries rich and poor, large and small, and it has particularly harmful effects on emerging economies."

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation, and OXY USA Inc. have agreed to pay the United States $2.05 million plus interest to resolve claims that the companies violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal leases.

A Miami-area doctor, Fred Dweck, was sentenced to 24 months in prison today for his role in a wide-ranging Medicare fraud scheme involving several Miami-area home health agencies.

The Justice Department has reached a settlement with Inova Health System to ensure effective communication with individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing in the provision of medical services.

The United States has filed a complaint against Healthpoint Ltd., alleging civil False Claims Act violations arising from the company’s sale of an unapproved prescription drug that was ineligible for payment under Medicaid and Medicare.

JGC Corporation has agreed to pay a $218.8 million criminal penalty to resolve charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for its participation in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts.