Category Archives: Department of Justice

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Judicial Watch Sues State Department for Text Messages of Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin

March 10, 2020 | Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch Sues State Department for Text Messages of Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the State Department for all text and other electronic messages of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin after discovering an email that strongly suggests Clinton used text messages for official business (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:20-cv-00441)).

In January 2020, Judicial Watch released emails that included an August 2011 email from Abedin to Clinton stating: “Sent you a couple of text messages.” The email was among other emails that had only recently been found by the FBI and produced to the State Department. Last week, a federal court criticized the State and Justice Departments for providing no explanation about how these emails were found at this late date:

State failed to fully explain the new emails’ origins when the Court directly questioned where they came from.

Judicial Watch filed its recent FOIA lawsuit after the State Department denied any responsive records exist in response to two January 2020 FOIA requests for:

All text messages, encrypted app messages and instant messages involving official government business sent or received by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013.
All text messages, encrypted app messages and instant messages involving official government business sent or received by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013.

“Where are Hillary Clinton’s text messages?” asked Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Judicial Watch uncovered the hidden Clinton emails and now we’ve uncovered that Secretary Clinton and her top aide Huma Abedin used text messages.”

In March 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth granted Judicial Watch’s request to depose Clinton about her emails and Benghazi attack documents. The court also ordered the deposition of Clinton’s former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills and two other State Department officials.

Additionally, the court granted Judicial Watch’s request to subpoena Google for relevant documents and records associated with Clinton’s emails during her tenure at the State Department.

Clinton repeatedly stated that the 55,000 pages of documents she turned over to the State Department in December 2014 included all of her work-related emails. In response to a court order in another Judicial Watch case, she declared under penalty of perjury that she had “directed that all my emails on clintonemail.com in my custody that were or are potentially federal records be provided to the Department of State, and on information and belief, this has been done.”

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department of justice

U.S. Navy Officer, His Wife, and Two Chinese Nationals Charged with Conspiring to Smuggle Military Style Inflatable Boats and Evinrude Military Outboard Motors to China

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, November 1, 2019

U.S. Navy Officer, His Wife, and Two Chinese Nationals Charged with Conspiring to Smuggle Military Style Inflatable Boats and Evinrude Military Outboard Motors to China

Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers and U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez for the Middle District of Florida announces the return of an indictment today of four individuals, including two Chinese nationals, an active-duty United States Navy officer, and his wife, on charges relating to a conspiracy to unlawfully smuggle military-style inflatable boats, with Evinrude MFE military outboard motors, to the People’s Republic of China. The Navy officer and two other defendants have also been charged with conspiring to violate firearms law, and the Navy officer has been charged with an additional firearms-related offense and with making false official statements.

The four defendants charged in the indictment are:

Fan Yang, 34, a naturalized citizen of the United States and Lieutenant in the United States Navy residing in Jacksonville, Florida; Yang Yang, 33, wife of Fan Yang, and a naturalized citizen of the United States residing in Jacksonville, Florida; Ge Songtao, 49, a citizen and resident of the People’s Republic of China; and Zheng Yan, 27, a citizen and resident of the People’s Republic of China.

The defendants were arrested on Oct. 17, 2019, and are currently detained.

All four defendants have been charged with conspiring to submit false export information and to fraudulently attempt to export articles from the United States. Additionally, Yang Yang, Ge Songtao, and Zheng Yan have been charged with causing the submission of false and misleading information into the U.S. Automated Export System, and fraudulently attempting to export seven vessels and eight engines. If convicted for conspiracy or for the submission of false export information, the charged defendants each face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. If convicted on the attempted-smuggling charge, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

Fan Yang, Yang Yang, and Ge Songtao are charged with other offenses as well. All three have been charged with conspiring to violate laws prohibiting an alien admitted under a nonimmigrant visa from possessing a firearm and prohibiting the transfer of a firearm to a nonresident. Fan Yang has also been charged with making a false statement to a firearms dealer, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, and with making false official statements in his application for a security clearance, which carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security; and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Coolican and Heather Schmidt, Senior Trial Attorney, Counterintelligence and Export Section, U.S. Department of Justice.

PRESS RELEASE: Pharmaceutical Company Admits to Price Fixing in Violation of Antitrust Law, Resolves Related False Claims Act Violations

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 31, 2019

Pharmaceutical Company Admits to Price Fixing in Violation of Antitrust Law, Resolves Related False Claims Act Violations

Heritage Pharmaceuticals Agrees to Pay More than $7 Million in Criminal Penalty and Civil Damages and to Cooperate with Ongoing Parallel Investigations in the Generics Industry

Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc., a generic pharmaceutical company headquartered in Eatontown, New Jersey, was charged for conspiring with its competitors to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers, the Department of Justice announced today.

According to a one-count felony charge filed yesterday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, from about April 2014 until at least December 2015, Heritage participated in a criminal antitrust conspiracy with other companies and individuals engaged in the production and sale of generic pharmaceuticals, a purpose of which was to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers for glyburide, a medicine used to treat diabetes.  This charge is the third in the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation; Heritage’s former CEO and its former president were previously charged.

The Antitrust Division also announced a deferred prosecution agreement resolving the charge, under which Heritage admits that it conspired to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers for glyburide.  Under the agreement’s terms, Heritage will pay a $225,000 criminal penalty and cooperate fully with the ongoing criminal investigation.  The United States will defer prosecuting Heritage for a period of three years to allow the company to comply with the agreement’s terms.  The agreement will not be final until accepted by the court.

“American consumers have the right to generic drugs sold at prices set by competition, not collusion,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.  “It is particularly galling that, when healthcare prices in the United States are already high, certain generic pharmaceutical companies and executives engaged in collusive conduct at the expense of individuals who depend on critical medications.  Heritage and its co-conspirators cheated and exploited vulnerable American patients to pad their bottom line.”  Delrahim continued, “this resolution — requiring an admission of guilt, a criminal penalty, and cooperation in the ongoing investigation — sends a clear message to generic pharmaceutical companies and their executives that this conduct will not be tolerated.  The Division and its law enforcement partners, including the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, will continue to hold companies and individuals accountable for collusion that undermines the integrity of the market for drugs.”

The Antitrust Division entered into the deferred prosecution agreement with Heritage based on the individual facts and circumstances of this case.  Among those facts and circumstances, the agreement specifically identifies the company’s substantial and ongoing cooperation with the investigation to date, including its disclosure of information regarding criminal antitrust violations involving drugs other than those identified in the criminal charge and the agreement.  According to the agreement, this cooperation has allowed the United States to advance its investigation into criminal antitrust conspiracies among other manufacturers of generic pharmaceuticals.  Other facts and circumstances identified in the agreement include: Heritage has agreed to resolve all civil claims relating to federal health care programs arising from its conduct; and a conviction (including a guilty plea) would likely result in the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services imposing mandatory exclusion of Heritage from all federal health care programs under 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7 for a period of at least five years, which would result in substantial consequences, including to American consumers.  The agreement can ensure that integrity has been restored to Heritage’s operations and preserve its financial viability while preserving the United States’ ability to prosecute it should material breaches occur.

“Price fixing, bid rigging and market allocation promote an environment antithetical to free and open competition in the marketplace.  When this occurs, the consumer is not guaranteed the best products at the lowest prices,” said Special Agent in Charge Scott Pierce, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.  “The U.S. Postal Service spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year on health care associated costs, including expenses related to prescription drugs.  Along with the Department of Justice and our federal law enforcement partners, the USPS Office of Inspector General will aggressively investigate those who would engage in this type of harmful conduct.”

“The availability of generic medications should be a boon to the public, giving them access to proven drugs at lower prices,” said Michael T. Harpster, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division.  “When generic pharmaceutical firms engage in price fixing and bid rigging in order to pad their profits, they not only disrupt the free market but do so on the backs of the folks who depend on these drugs.  The FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable companies engaged in such illegal and anticompetitive acts.”

In a separate civil resolution, Heritage has agreed to pay $7.1 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act related to the price-fixing conspiracy.  The government alleged that between 2012 and 2015, Heritage paid and received remuneration through arrangements on price, supply, and allocation of customers with other pharmaceutical manufacturers for certain generic drugs in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, and that its sale of such drugs resulted in claims submitted to or purchases by federal healthcare programs.  The drugs allegedly implicated in this scheme address a wide variety of health conditions, and include hydralazine, used to treat high blood pressure, theophylline, used to treat asthma and other respiratory problems, and glyburide.

“Price fixing of generic drugs harms federal health care programs and the beneficiaries those programs serve,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.  “The Department of Justice will use every tool at its disposal to hold generic drug manufacturers accountable for wrongdoing.”

“My Office is proud to announce both the civil healthcare fraud settlement with the Civil Division and the deferred prosecution agreement with the Antitrust Division,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “Price fixing and market allocation in generic drugs will not be tolerated, especially when such actions artificially inflate prices and negatively impact federal healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid. This resolution with Heritage is an important milestone, and my Office will continue to investigate and pursue illegal conduct regarding generic drugs.”

“Plotting to raise prices on generic medications is illegal and may result in patients’ inability to afford vital medicines,” said Maureen R. Dixon, Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia Regional Office of the Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services.  “Along with our law enforcement partners at the DOJ, FBI, and Postal-OIG, we will continue to investigate allegations of companies engaging in actions that put the public and the Medicare program at risk.”

The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits companies from receiving or paying remuneration in return for arranging the sale or purchase of items such as drugs for which payment may be made by a federal health care program.  These provisions are designed to ensure that the supply and price of health care items are not compromised by improper financial incentives.  This settlement reflects the important role of the False Claims Act to ensure that the United States is fully compensated when it is the victim of kickbacks paid to further anticompetitive conduct.

The criminal charge is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging, and other anticompetitive conduct in the generic pharmaceutical industry, which is being conducted by the Antitrust Division with the assistance of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division, the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit, the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  Anyone with information on market allocation, price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct related to the generic pharmaceutical industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 1-888-647-3258, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html or call the FBI’s Philadelphia Division at 215-418-4000.

The civil settlement was handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania with support from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, Defense Health Agency Program Integrity, and the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Except for those facts admitted to in the deferred prosecution agreement, the claims resolved by the civil settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

department of justice

PRESS RELEASE: Two Chicago Women Held Accountable for Falsely Billing 24-7 for Seven Years in $1.7 Million Workers’ Compensation Fraud

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 31, 2019
Two Chicago Women Held Accountable for Falsely Billing 24-7 for Seven Years in $1.7 Million Workers’ Compensation Fraud

Two Chicago, Illinois, women pleaded guilty for their roles in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) of $1.7 million by falsely billing for services on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week basis for over seven years.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch Jr. of the Northern District of Illinois, Special Agent in Charge Andre M. Martin of the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (Postal-OIG), Acting Special Agent in Charge Irene Lindow of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG) and Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey S. Sallet of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office made the announcement.

Ella Garner, 62, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud before U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklu of the Northern District of Illinois. On May 24, 2019, Chante Carrothers, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud for her role in the conspiracy. Sentencing for Carrothers has been scheduled for August 16 and for Garner on September 6, both before Judge Bucklu.

As part of their guilty pleas, Carrothers and Garner each admitted that from June 2010 through April 2018, they conspired to defraud OWCP by falsely billing for 24-7 services purportedly provided by Garner to a single person in the home. Garner was not, in fact, providing constant care, the defendants admitted. OWCP paid Carrothers approximately $1.7 million for the bills she submitted for a single patient, purportedly under Garner’s care. Carrothers paid Garner approximately $4,500 per month for her role in the conspiracy, the defendants admitted.

This case was investigated by Postal OIG, DOL-OIG and the FBI. Trial Attorneys Leslie S. Garthwaite and Patrick Mott of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force is part of a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 14 strike forces operating in 23 districts, has charged nearly 4,000 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $14 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.