News Coverage

A Wisconsin-based contractor will pay $3 million to resolve its liability arising from improper use of foreign materials on federally funded construction projects.
Glass enclosure specialist Novum Structures violated contractual provisions that apply domestic preference statutes, recognized as “Buy American” requirements, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Novum allegedly repackaged materials and falsified documents relating to some federally funded projects in...

Menomonee Falls contractor Novum Structures LLC agreed to pay $3 million to settle lawsuits claiming the company used steel and other materials manufactured in China and Italy on government projects with "Buy America" requirements.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday announced the guilty plea and settlement agreements in both criminal and civil charges. The lawsuits alleged Novum used the foreign construction materials on the federal contracts, including the New Orleans streetcar...

A Menomonee Falls architecture and construction firm has agreed to pay $3 million to settle civil and criminal charges that it defrauded the federal government's "Buy American" rules for contractors.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Novum Structures repackaged steel and other construction materials from foreign countries to appear as if it were sourced in the United States. The firm used the materials on government projects around the country, such as a courthouse in Illinois,...

A Wisconsin contractor has pleaded guilty to illegally substituting foreign-made building materials in nearly a half-dozen federally-funded projects that required American-made materials, including expansion work tied to New Orleans’ streetcar line.
Despite the criminal charge, the work in New Orleans did not pose a safety risk, according to an attorney involved in the case.
As part of a plea deal entered this week in federal court in Wisconsin, Novum Structures LLC pleaded...

Novum Structures LLC will pay $3 million to settle criminal and civil False Claims Act allegations in Wisconsin federal court that it falsified documents to hide the improper use of foreign materials on construction projects funded with federal dollars, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday.
The Wisconsin-based manufacturer of glass space frames — found in roofs and atriums — agreed to plead guilty to a single count of concealing a material fact and fork over $500,000 in...

A private ambulance company serving New Jersey and other states systematically falsified patient and physician records to lock in millions of dollars of unjustified Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, according to a whistleblower lawsuit recently unsealed in federal court.
LifeStar Response, which is part of one of the largest private ambulance providers in the nation and has an office in Totowa, billed the state and federal governments for unnecessary or inflated ambulance service for...

Whistleblowers are showing their persistence in continuing to pursue qui tam cases after the government declines to intervene and 2015 was the most profitable year yet for whistleblower recoveries in declined cases. When a whistleblower lawsuit is filed, it is under seal until the Department of Justice (DOJ) can review the case and decide one of three actions.
They can recommend to the court the case be dropped for lack of substance, they can take over the lawsuit from the whistleblower...

The Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) collected over $3.5 billion in settlements and judgements from False Claims Act (FCA) civil cases in fiscal year 2015, with a whopping 81% of these recoveries driven by whistleblower (qui tam) lawsuits. The record annual whistleblower recovery amount was led by health care industry fraud FCA cases this year with a record high percentage of cases declined by the DOJ, subsequently pursued, and won by private attorneys.
FY2015...

You may not recall the name Bradley Birkenfeld. But, I suspect, if you work for a large bank, a hospital, a defense contractor, or any of the thousands of other corporate entities that are either regulated by federal law or receive federal funds, you will never forget his name once you read this column.
What’s so special about Mr. Birkenfeld? The Internal Revenue Service paid him $104 million a few years ago, this after Mr. Birkenfeld had been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of...

A group of big banks tried to wreck a New Jersey trucking company during the 2007 credit crisis, the founder claims in a $300 million Manhattan federal lawsuit.
Dana Transport was victimized by predatory banks, which through forced mergers resulting from the financial crisis of 2008 wound up holding too much exposure to the company and wanted to get out, Mahany claims...