United States Joins False Claims Act Lawsuit Against Wheeling Hospital, R & V Associates, and Ronald Violi Based on Improper Payments and Kickbacks to Physicians

“This settlement incisively corrects historic environmental issues impinging on the Cape Fear River,” said Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work with its partners at EPA to ensure that companies are held accountable for past environmental damage as required by CERCLA.”

Amor M. Ftouhi, 51, of Quebec, Canada, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Leitman to life in prison for committing an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries and two other offenses in conjunction with his attack on a Bishop Airport police officer on June 21, 2017. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider for the Eastern District of Michigan and Special Agent in Charge Timothy R. Slater of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office made the announcement.

Japanese authorities have extradited to the United States two former executives of a Las Vegas, Nevada investment company in connection with their alleged roles in a $1.5 billion Ponzi scheme.

Good Morning.  Thank you all for being here today.

On March 22, 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded his investigation of matters related to Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and submitted his confidential report to me pursuant to Department of Justice regulations. 

As I said during my Senate confirmation hearing and since, I am committed to ensuring the greatest possible degree of transparency concerning the Special Counsel’s investigation, consistent with the law.

Attorney General William P. Barr and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex M. Azar II, together with multiple law enforcement partners, today announced enforcement actions involving 60 charged defendants across 11 federal districts, including 31 doctors, seven pharmacists, eight nurse practitioners, and seven other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in the illegal prescribing and distributing of opioids and other dangerous narcotics and for health care fraud schemes. In addition, HHS announced today that since June 2018, it has excluded over 2,000 individuals from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and all other Federal health care programs, which includes more than 650 providers excluded for conduct related to opioid diversion and abuse. Since July 2017, DEA has issued 31 immediate suspension orders, 129 orders to show cause, and received 1,386 surrenders for cause nationwide for violations of the Controlled Substances Act.

Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Ying Lin pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), without notification to the Attorney General, by working at the direction and control of military officers assigned to the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations. Lin, a former manager with an international air carrier headquartered in the PRC (the Air Carrier), abused her privileges to transport packages from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK Airport) to the PRC aboard Air Carrier flights at the behest of the PRC military officers and in violation of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations. The proceeding was held before United States District Judge Ann M. Donnelly.

A Port St. Lucie, Florida, man was sentenced to 84 months in prison today for filing false tax returns on behalf of his clients and for failing to report his true income on his own income tax returns, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan for the Southern District of Florida.

The Department of Justice today released two complementary reports that focus on the mental health and safety of the nation’s federal, state, local and tribal police officers. The reports, Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act: Report to Congress and Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Programs: Eleven Case Studies, were published by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) as required by the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) of 2017.