Former Contractor Sentenced for Bribing Army COs
A former government contractor has been sentenced to 70 months in prison after admitting to his role in a bribery and kickback scheme where he paid bribes to secure U.S. Army contracts. According to court documents, John Winslett admitted paying more than $100,000 in bribes to two Army contracting officials at the Range at Schofield Barracks, […]
SBA OIG Management Alert Raises Serious Concerns Over Paycheck Protection Program Loan Recipients on...
On January 11, 2021, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a Management Alert raising concerns about improper payments to lenders for...
Improper Billing of “P-Stim” Devices is Focus of Recent FCA Settlements
Improper billing for electro-acupuncture using a “P-Stim” device (or peri-auricular stimulation device) has been the subject of two False Claims Act (FCA) settlements already in 2021, following a trend of such enforcement actions within the past year. Each of the recent settlements, detailed further below, involve providers billing federal healthcare programs for acupuncture using P-Stim […]
Volkov’s FCPA Enforcement and Compliance Trends for 2020
In a 26-minute episode of Corruption, Crime & Compliance, Michael Volkov reviews FCPA enforcement and compliance trends for 2020. The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission had another record year of enforcement. In fact, the last four years of FCPA enforcement included two years of record enforcement – 2019 and 2020. After those […]
Major Changes in AML Compliance and Enforcement
In a new five-part series, Tom Fox examines the passage of the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act and, as part of that legislation, the enactment the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 into law. The AMLA is the most comprehensive set of reforms to the anti-money laundering laws in the United States since the USA PATRIOT […]
Relaunched SBA COVID Loan Program Comes with Warnings about Persistent Fraud Potential
As the Small Business Administration relaunched the third round of its coronavirus loan program with another $284 billion in funding, the agency’s Office of Inspector General warned again about the potential for fraud. The agency and Congress are trying to fix some of the problems seen in previous rounds, and to better serve minority-owned businesses, […]
Insitu Inc. to Pay $25 Million for Alleging Overcharging on UAV Contracts
Insitu Inc. has agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that it submitted materially false cost and pricing data for contracts with the Special Operations Command and the Navy to supply and operate unmanned aerial vehicles. From 2009 to 2017, Insitu entered into a total of seven such contracts, at prices that were allegedly […]
A Year of Developments and a Look Ahead for DOJ Procurement Collusion Strike Force
In 2019, Arnold & Porter wrote about DOJ's new multi-agency Procurement Collusion Strike Force. Formed in November 2019, this Antitrust Division initiative focuses on...
Isolated Transactions Exception to Stark Act Scaled Back by CMS
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a final rule making a variety of modifications to “modernize and clarify” the regulations that interpret the Physician Self-Referral Law. For the most part, the regulations are effective January 19, 2021 (except for Amendment number 3 regarding the definition of Group Practice), and include a set of […]
Volkov: 2020 Was a Year of Great Ethical Challenges
If ever there was a year that challenged corporate leaders on their commitment to business ethics, 2020 was the year. The number of difficult issues facing corporate leaders were challenging and ran the gamut – from health and safety concerns, to business continuity, and to economic disruptions and lay-offs or reductions in force. Even outside […]