News reports today indicate that Bravo celebrity Jen Shah was sentenced to 78 months for her role in a wire fraud that resulted in $5 million in losses. For people unfamiliar with the federal sentencing guidelines, the base offense level for a wire fraud is enhanced by a number of levels that corresponds to [...]
Last fall Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced the Department of Justice’s more aggressive approach to corporate compliance. In her policy speech this week, she highlighted a series of new policies and warned cooperating companies not to slow walk their disclosures, told prosecutors to speed up their investigations and expanded self-reporting programs throughout the [...]
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS, OIG) issued a special fraud alert advising healthcare providers to exercise caution when contracting with telemedicine companies. Such alerts are significant as they put providers on notice that OIG intends to investigate and prosecute potential fraud regarding telemedicine. [...]
The Department of Justice just announced charges against 21 individuals in a nationwide crackdown of COVID-19 related prosecutions that resulted in $150 million worth of fraud. The schemes were varied and involved medical doctors, medical labs, marketers and others in the healthcare field. For instance, two owners of a lab in California allegedly billed [...]
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is planning a hiring spree to investigate and prosecute pandemic related fraud and traditional white collar crimes. President Biden’s budget seeks $3.5 million to hire an additional 120 prosecutors to focus on pandemic related fraud and $325 million for 900 additional FBI [...]
In addition to the 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices around the country that investigate and prosecute health care fraud, the Fraud Section of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division based in Washington D.C. has approximately 76 federal prosecutors devoted to such prosecutions. This DOJ Unit targets complex health care fraud involving illegal prescription, distribution and [...]
Chief Financial Officers, Account Managers and bookkeepers all, to vary degrees, are trusted employees who have access to corporate funds. Access to company funds, with little or sporadic oversight, can leave a company vulnerable to a variety of fraudulent schemes to obtain funds those employees were not entitled to. Common schemes include: The trusted employee [...]
Insurance fraud, mortgage fraud, embezzlement and income tax evasion are different forms of white-collar crime. white-collar crimes charges involve some form of deception, but violence is generally not used to carry them out.
One of the earmarks of the steady expansion of government at the New Jersey state level and the federal level is that more and more laws and regulations make it easier to find yourself in violation of them. It is similar to walking through a minefield: the more mines that are laid in your path, the more likely it is that you will finally step on one of them.
Some crimes by their very names can conjure images of the type of person who commits them. Crimes such as assault, strong-arm robbery, or burglary may bring to mind a rough sort of individual. Another type of crime, though, may produce a different kind of mental image: "white-collar crime."