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BRIEF—GSK completes sale of nutrition brands for £3.4 billion

GlaxoSmithKline has completed divestment of its Horlicks and other Consumer Healthcare nutrition products…



  • Companies
  • mergers and acquisitions/Deals/Financial/GlaxoSmithKline/India/Pharmaceutical/UK

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jCyte out-licenses rare vision disorder treatment for $252 million

US biotech firm jCyte Inc has entered into a licensing agreement with Japanese ophthalmology specialist…



  • Biotechnology/Deals/Japan/jCell/jCyte Inc/Licensing/Ophthalmics/Rare diseases/Santen/USA/Vision disorder

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Canadian Company to Pay U.S. More Than $1 Million Related to Sale of Defective Bullet-proof Vests

Barrday Inc. and two related companies have agreed to pay the United States more than $1 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act in connection with their role in the weaving of Zylon fabric used in the manufacture and sale of defective Zylon bullet-proof vests. Barrday, headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, is a weaver of ballistic fabrics and designs and produces specialty industrial textiles.



  • OPA Press Releases

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U.S. Recovers $19 Million from AMEC Construction Management to Settle Litigation Regarding Fraud, False Claims, Kickbacks & Re-Procurement Costs on Federal Construction Contracts

The United States has recovered more than $19 million from AMEC Construction Management Inc. (ACMI) to resolve allegations of fraud, false claims and kickbacks on four General Services Administration (GSA) construction contracts, as well as litigation over claims by the GSA for excess re-procurement costs incurred by GSA after it terminated ACMI’s contract to build the Thomas F. Eagleton United States Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri. ACMI was formerly known as Morse Diesel International Inc.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Coal-Fired Power Plant to Spend More Than $135 Million to Settle Clean Air Violations

Kentucky Utilities (KU), a coal-fired electric utility, has agreed to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty and spend approximately $135 million on pollution controls to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Patriot Coal to Pay $6.5 Million to Settle Clean Water Act Violations

Patriot Coal Corporation, one of the largest coal mining companies in the United States, has agreed to pay a $6.5 million civil penalty to settle violations of the Clean Water Act.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Kellogg Brown & Root LLC Pleads Guilty to Foreign Bribery Charges and Agrees to Pay $402 Million Criminal Fine

Kellogg Brown & Root LLC (KBR), a global engineering, construction and services company based in Houston, pleaded guilty today to 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. The EPC contracts to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities on Bonny Island, Nigeria, were valued at more than $6 billion.



  • OPA Press Releases

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APL Ltd. to Pay U.S. $26.3 Million to Resolve Fraud Allegations for Inflated Shipping Costs to Military in Iraq and Afghanistan

APL Limited has agreed to pay the government $26.3 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims to the United States in connection with contracts to transport cargo in shipping containers to support U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Three Miami Physicians and Three Medical Workers Charged with $10 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

Six Miami-Dade County residents have been indicted in connection with an alleged $10 million Medicare fraud scheme operated out of Midway Medical, a Miami clinic that purported to specialize in treating HIV/AIDS patients.



  • OPA Press Releases

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AT&T Technical Services Corp. to Pay U.S. more than $8.2 Million to Settle False Claims Involving the E-Rate Program

AT&T Technical Services Corp. (AT&T-TSCO) has agreed to pay $8,266,414.33 as part of a civil settlement relating to allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act in connection with the Federal Communication Commission's E-Rate program.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Texas Man Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison for Selling Counterfeit Software Worth $1 Million on Web Sites

Timothy Kyle Dunaway, 24, of Wichita Falls, Texas, was sentenced today to 41 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor in Wichita Falls for selling counterfeit computer software through the Internet in violation of criminal copyright infringement laws. The software sold by Dunaway had a combined retail value of more than $1 million.



  • OPA Press Releases

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BP Products to Pay Nearly $180 Million to Settle Clean Air Violations at Texas City Refinery

BP Products North America Inc. has agreed to spend more than $161 million on pollution controls, enhanced maintenance and monitoring, and improved internal management practices to resolve Clean Air Act violations at its Texas City, Texas, refinery.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Japanese Corporate Operator of Cargo Vessel Sentenced to Pay $1.75 Million for Conspiracy and Falsifying Records

U. S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday today sentenced the Japanese corporation Hiong Guan Navegacion Japan Co. Ltd., that operates the commercial cargo ship M/V Balsa-62, to three years probation and $1.75 million in penalties for conspiring to falsify and falsifying environmental compliance records.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Miami Man Found Guilty in $13.5 Million International Money Laundering Scheme

Rodrigo Molina, 33, a Brazilian national who resided in Miami, was found guilty by a federal jury on 11 of 16 charged counts related to a $13.5 million money laundering conspiracy. Molina was found guilty on Feb. 25, 2009, following a seven-day jury trial in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.



  • OPA Press Releases

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International Criminal Figure Pleads Guilty to $138 Million Fuel Tax Scheme After Nearly 13 Years as a Fugitive

After nearly 13 years as a fugitive, a former New Jersey resident has been returned to the United States, and pleaded guilty today to conspiring to committing one of the nation’s largest known motor fuel excise tax schemes. Aaron Misulovin a/k/a Albert Friedman, a/k/a Valery Vibornov, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas in Camden, N.J., to one count of conspiracy, three counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering and three counts of tax evasion.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Kansas Cardiologist to Pay U.S. $1.3 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

Joseph P. Galichia, M.D. and Galichia Medical Group P.A., a Kansas cardiologist and his practice group, have agreed to pay the United States $1.3 million to settle claims that the physician and his group violated the False Claims Act between 2001 and 2006, by submitting false claims to Medicare.



  • OPA Press Releases

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U.S. Asks Courts in California & South Carolina to Shut Down Promoters of Allegedly Fraudulent $39.2 Million Tax Refund Scam

The United States has sued tax return preparers in Placerville, Calif., and Columbia, S.C., seeking to bar them from preparing federal tax returns for others. According to the government complaints in the two cases, Teresa Marty of Pollock Pines, Calif., and Winston Able of Blythewood, S.C., prepare federal income tax returns for their customers that claim fraudulent tax refunds.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Hitachi Displays Agrees to Plead Guilty and Pay $31 Million Fine for Participating in LCD Price-Fixing Conspiracy

Japanese electronics manufacturer Hitachi Displays Ltd., agreed to plead guilty and pay a $31 million fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices in the sale of Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display panels (TFT-LCD) sold to Dell Inc.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Shipping Line Pays $1.4 Million for Environmental Crimes

Holy House Shipping AB, a Swedish corporation, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J., to pay a $1 million fine, a special assessment of $400,000 in community service payments and serve three years of probation for failing to maintain an accurate oil record book in an attempt to conceal illegal discharges of oil-contaminated waste directly into the ocean from one of its ships.



  • OPA Press Releases

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San Mateo County, California, to Pay U.S. $6.8 Million to Resolve False Claims Allegations

San Mateo County, Calif., has agreed to pay the United States $6.8 million to resolve allegations that the San Mateo Medical Center (SMMC) submitted false claims to the United States in connection with payments from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The government alleges that SMMC falsely inflated its bed count to Medicare in order to receive higher payments under Medicare’s Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) adjustment.



  • OPA Press Releases

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General Maritime Management (Portugal) Fined $1 Million for Enviromental Crimes

A federal judge in Corpus Christi, Texas, has sentenced General Maritime Management (Portugal), the operator of a fleet of tanker vessels, and two crewmembers of the motor tanker Genmar Defiance for making false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard and failing to maintain an accurate Oil Record Book designed to prevent pollution of the world’s oceans as required by United States and international law.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Jury Convicts Two Doctors and Two Medical Assistants in $5.3 Million Medicare Fraud Scam

A federal jury in Miami today convicted two physicians and two medical assistants in connection with a $5.3 million Medicare fraud scheme. After a two-week trial in federal court in Miami, a jury found David Rothman, M.D., 66; Keith Russell, M.D., 65; Eda Marietta Milanes, 43; and Jorge Luis Pacheco, 50; guilty on all charged counts, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud and multiple counts of health care fraud for submitting claims to Medicare for unnecessary medications.



  • OPA Press Releases

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U.S. Sues Union Pacific R.R. for $37 Million for Allegedly Failing to Prevent Use of Rail Cars to Smuggle Narcotics Across Border

The government has filed two lawsuits against the Union Pacific Railroad Company for allegedly failing to prevent the use of its rail cars to smuggle large quantities of narcotics into the United States. The complaints, filed in San Diego and Houston, seek more than $37 million in monetary penalties. The government alleges the rail cars were brought across the border at the ports of entry at Calexico, Calif., and Brownsville, Texas.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Two Doctors and Two Medical Assistants Plead Guilty in $10 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

Four Miami-area residents pleaded guilty today in connection with a $10 million Medicare fraud scheme involving HIV infusion clinics. Dr. Roberto Rodriguez, 54; Dr. Carlos Garrido, 69; Gonzalo Nodarse, 38; and Alexis Carrazana, 41; all pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Sixth Aegis Company Principal Sentenced in Chicago to Ten Years in Prison for His Part in Firm’s $60 Million Tax Fraud Conspiracy

Edward B. Bartoli, a Clearwater, Fla., resident and former attorney, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle of Chicago. Bartoli is the last of six defendants to be sentenced after they were convicted of various tax crimes in May 2008. Prior to his conviction, Bartoli was a founder of Aegis and its legal director.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Connecticut Resident Pleads Guilty to Multi-Million Dollar Tax Fraud Conspiracy

A Newton, Conn., resident who was involved in operating three businesses in Brooklyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Mariusz Debowksi pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to conspiracy to aid another in filing false tax returns.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Sikorsky Aircraft Pays $2.9 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

Sikorsky Aircraft Company, a division of United Technologies Corporation, has agreed to pay the United States $2,941,000 to resolve fraud allegations in connection with its contract for the manufacture of Black Hawk helicopters for the Army. Sikorsky, located in Stratford, Conn., manufactures the Black Hawk or variations of the Black Hawk for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, as well as for other nations.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Houston’s Methodist Hospital to Pay U.S. More Than $9 Million to Resolve Allegations of Overcharging Medicare

Methodist Hospital in Houston has agreed to pay the United States $9.99 million to settle allegations that it defrauded the federal Medicare program. The settlement resolves allegations that Methodist improperly increased charges to Medicare patients in order to obtain enhanced reimbursement from Medicare.



  • OPA Press Releases

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U.S. Sues 32 Individuals, Alleging $30 Million Tax Credit Scam Based on Sham Sales from Non-Existent Methane Production Facilities at Landfills

The United States has sued four Certified Public Accounts (CPA), 27 tax preparers and one other individual, seeking to bar them from promoting an alleged tax scam involving bogus income tax credits claimed for sham sales of methane from landfills.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Connecticut Resident Pleads Guilty to Multi-Million Dollar Tax Fraud Conspiracy Involving New York City Hospital

A Trumbull, Conn., resident who was involved in operating three businesses in Brooklyn, N.Y., pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Krzysztof Koczon pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to conspiracy to aid another in filing false tax returns.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Three Defendants Sentenced in "Advance-Fee" Fraud Scheme That Cost Victims More Than $1.2 Million

Three defendants were sentenced to prison today after pleading guilty in January 2008 to federal charges of running an “advance-fee” scheme that targeted U.S. victims with promises of millions of dollars.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Ship Operator Pleads Guilty and Agrees to Pay $2.5 Million Fine for Concealing Vessel Pollution

Consultores De Navegacion, a Spanish company that operates the M/T Nautilus, an ocean-going chemical tanker ship, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston and has agreed to pay a fine of $2.5 million for criminal violations related to the overboard discharge of oil-contaminated bilge waste on the high seas.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Latin Node Inc., Pleads Guilty to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Violation and Agrees to Pay $2 Million Criminal Fine

Latin Node Inc. (Latinode), a privately held Florida corporation, pleaded guilty today to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with improper payments in Honduras and Yemen. At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Paul Courtney Huck in the Southern District of Florida, Latinode pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging a criminal violation of the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Six Former Executives of California Valve Company Charged in $46 Million Foreign Bribery Conspiracy

Six former executives of an Orange County, Calif.-based valve company were charged today in connection with a conspiracy to secure contracts by paying bribes to officials of foreign state-owned companies as well as officers and employees of foreign and domestic private companies. The contracts resulted in net profits to the company of approximately $46.5 million. According to the indictment, the defendants allegedly engaged in a bribery conspiracy from approximately 1998 through 2007.



  • OPA Press Releases

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UBS Client Pleads Guilty to Filing False Tax Return Hid Assets Worth $3 Million in Secret Swiss Bank Account

Robert Moran, of Lighthouse Point, Fla., pleaded guilty today to a criminal information charging him with filing a false income tax return. Moran appeared today before Judge James I. Cohn in Ft. Lauderdale and accepted responsibility for concealing more than $3 million in assets in a secret bank account at UBS in Switzerland.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Quest Diagnostics to Pay U.S. $302 Million to Resolve Allegations That a Subsidiary Sold Misbranded Test Kits

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and its subsidiary, Nichols Institute Diagnostics (NID), have entered into a global settlement with the United States to resolve criminal and civil claims concerning various types of diagnostic test kits that NID manufactured, marketed and sold to laboratories throughout the country until 2006. The payment of $302 million will resolve these allegations and represents one of the largest recoveries ever in a case involving a medical device.



  • OPA Press Releases

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GSA Contractor NetApp Agrees to Pay U.S. $128 Million to Resolve Contract Fraud Allegations

The United States has reached a settlement with NetApp Inc. and NetApp U.S. Public Sector Inc. (collectively NetApp), following an investigation of alleged false claims and contract fraud. NetApp has agreed to pay the United States $128 million, plus interest. This is the largest contract fraud settlement the General Services Administration (GSA) has obtained to date.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Virginia Man Pleads Guilty to Selling Counterfeit Computer Software Worth $1 Million

A Virginia man pleaded guilty today to selling counterfeit computer software on eBay in violation of criminal copyright infringement laws, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor for the District of Columbia.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Dupont and Lucite International Agree to Pay $2 Million for Clean Air Act Violations

DuPont and Lucite International Inc. have agreed to pay a $2 million civil penalty to settle Clean Air Act violations at a sulfuric acid plant in Belle, W. Va. The sulfuric acid plant is located on a 100-acre chemical manufacturing complex along the Kanawha River. The plant is owned by Lucite and operated by DuPont. The companies will pay $1 million to the United States and $1 million to the state of West Virginia.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Alta Colleges to Pay U.S. $7 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations

Alta Colleges Inc. and its wholly-owned collegiate schools in Texas have agreed to pay the United States $7 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that the Texas schools submitted false claims for federal student aid funds. The United States alleged that Alta’s Texas colleges obtained the requisite state licenses by misrepresenting to the state licensing agency that they complied with state job-placement reporting requirements and that their interior design programs complied with requirements for a professional license.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Subsidiaries of Swedish Company, Trelleborg AB, Agree to Plead Guilty and Pay $11 Million in Criminal Fines

Two subsidiaries of the Swedish company Trelleborg AB, one based in Virginia and the other in France, have agreed to plead guilty and pay a total of $11 million in criminal fines for their participation in separate conspiracies affecting the sales of marine products sold in the United States and elsewhere.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Former Military Official Pleads Guilty to Participating in Bribery Conspiracy Involving $206 Million Telecommunications Contract in Korea

A former Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) official pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ga., for his role in a conspiracy to commit bribery involving a multimillion dollar telecommunications contract, and for not reporting the bribes he accepted on his income tax returns.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Hurricane Katrina Contractor Accepts $4 Million Judgment Under the False Claims Act

The United States has settled its claims filed under the False Claims Act against Lighthouse Disaster Relief and its partners, Gary Heldreth and Kerry Farmer. In its complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, the United States alleged that Lighthouse, Heldreth, and Farmer accepted a $5.3 million payment for work that was not completely performed on a contract with the Department of Homeland Security.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Five Charged in $70 Million “Dream Home” Mortgage Fraud Scheme

A federal grand jury has indicted four defendants, and an information has been filed against a fifth defendant, for their participation in a massive mortgage fraud scheme that allegedly promised to pay off homeowners’ mortgages on their “Dream Homes,” but left them to fend for themselves. The indictment was returned on April 22, 2009, and unsealed today.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Korean Businessman Indicted in Bribery Conspiracy and Wire Fraud Scheme Involving $206 Million Contract

A South Korean businessman was indicted today for his alleged role in a bribery conspiracy for a $206 million telecommunications contract involving employees of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES).



  • OPA Press Releases

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Former Bank of China Managers and Their Wives Sentenced for Stealing More Than $485 Million, Laundering Money Through Las Vegas Casinos

Two former managers of the Bank of China and their wives were sentenced today after their convictions on Aug. 29, 2008, by a federal jury in Las Vegas on charges of racketeering, money laundering, international transportation of stolen property as well as passport and visa fraud.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Novo Nordisk Agrees to Pay $9 Million Fine in Connection with Payment of $1.4 Million in Kickbacks Through the United Nations Oil-for-food Program

Novo Nordisk A/S (Novo), a Danish corporation based in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, has agreed to pay a $9 million penalty for illegal kickbacks paid to the former Iraqi government.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Minnesota Hospitals to Pay U.S. $2.28 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

Three HealthEast Care System hospitals have agreed to pay the United States $2.28 million to settle allegations that the health care facilities submitted false claims to Medicare. All three hospitals are located in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., area. The settlement resolves allegations that the St. Paul-based hospitals overcharged Medicare from 2002 to 2007 by thousands of dollars each time they performed kyphoplasty, a minimally-invasive procedure used to treat certain spinal fractures that often are due to osteoporosis.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Texas-Based Regency Nursing and Rehabilitation Centers to Pay U.S. $4 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations

Regency Nursing and Rehabilitation Centers Inc. nursing home chain will pay the United States $4 million to settle allegations that Regency submitted false claims to Medicare and the Texas Medicaid program. The Victoria, Texas-based chain currently owns and operates 24 nursing home facilities located through the state.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Maine Department of Education to Pay United States $1.5 Million to Settle False Claims Involving Migrant Education Program

The Maine Department of Education (MDE) has agreed to pay the United States $1.5 million to settle allegations that it submitted false information to the U.S. Department of Education regarding the state education agency’s eligibility to receive federal funds under the Migrant Education Program.



  • OPA Press Releases