The Justice Department recently reported obtaining more than $5.6 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in fiscal year 2021. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-s-false-claims-act-settlements-and-judgments-exceed-56-billion-fiscal-year. This is the largest annual total in False Claims Act (FCA) history since 2014, no doubt spurred in part by fraud related to COVID-19. This

The terrible, terrible losses associated with the opioid epidemic are almost too horrifying to describe. Statistics alone cannot explain its scope, but it is important to note that, last year alone, over 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses across the country. Strikingly, the increase in overdose numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic took place in all

We residents of Lloyd Harbor share a love for the area’s natural beauty, which has been successfully preserved through the Village’s zoning ordinances. Though the area’s stately and mature trees are desirable, storms and disease can make those trees hazardous, and disputes between neighbors can arise when trees fall. What do you do when your

The year 2021 will be remembered for many things, of course including that, as of this writing, a total of more than 800,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. For lawyers who represent insurance companies in cases seeking to challenge fraudulent claims and other types of insurance fraud, as well

In mid-May, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force. Attorney General Garland directed the task force to use the resources of the U.S. Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance enforcement efforts against fraud related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even by that time – more than

As the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold last April, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney filed a lawsuit against FPR Specialty Pharmacy LLC and Mead Square Pharmacy, Inc., and their owners, Christopher Casey and William Rue, alleging that they had submitted fraudulent claims for reimbursement to federal healthcare programs for compounded prescription drugs in violation of the

Nearly a decade ago, in October 2011, Preet Bharara, then serving as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced pension disability fraud charges against a number of individuals associated with the Long Island Railroad (LIRR). The complaint estimated a potential loss to the Railroad Retirement Board of more than $1 billion in

Fifteen years ago, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that a violation of a licensing requirement by a medical provider rendered the provider ineligible to be reimbursed by an insurance company for no-fault claims that had been assigned to the provider by an individual allegedly involved in an automobile accident. The court recognized that one

The Fifth Amendment “not only protects the individual against being involuntarily called as a witness against himself in a criminal prosecution but also privileges him not to answer official questions put to him in any other proceeding, civil or criminal, formal or informal, where the answers might incriminate him in future criminal proceedings.” Lefkowitz v. Turley,

A case that has been appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and one that has just been argued in that court, have the potential to significantly affect the ability of insurance companies to fight no-fault insurance fraud in New York.

The defendants in Government Employees Ins. Co. v. Wellmart RX,