Fraud | Judiciary.org

Civil Law

OIG Publishes Special Fraud Alert on Medicare Advantage Marketing Arrangements

On December 11, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) published a Special Fraud Alert warning against suspect payment arrangements involving the Medicare Advantage (“MA”) program which could implicate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”), the False Claims Act (“FCA”), and other health care fraud and abuse laws. These suspect payment schemes can improperly steer Medicare enrollees to specific MA plans or health care providers based upon financial incentives rather than the enrollees’ needs.

OIG … Read the rest

Civil Law

Fraud on the PTO

LEDO PIZZA SYSTEM, INC. & LEDO PIZZA CARRYOUTS, INC., Plaintiffs,
v.
LEDO’S INC., Defendant.

No. 20 CV 7350.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division. March 7, 2024.

The defendant’s fraud claim fails even to get out of the starting blocks, because the defendant has failed to adequately establish standing to assert the claim.^[5] A petition to cancel a mark must “be filed . . . by any person who believes that he is or will be damaged, … Read the rest

Civil Law

Anatomy of a fraud series – Powers afforded by search and imaging orders

Search orders

Search orders are a form of interim, mandatory injunction which require a respondent to allow the applicant’s representatives to enter the respondent’s premises and search for, copy and remove documents or material for the purpose of preserving evidence and/or property which is or may be subject to an action.

Search orders are, therefore, considered to be one of the most draconian orders a court can make, and particularly so as a respondent may be held in contempt of … Read the rest

Civil Law

UK Finance – Fraud Update

UK Finance has recently published its half yearly fraud update for the first half of 2023, its findings are based on data reported to it by its members, which include financial providers, credit, debit and charge card issuers and card payment acquirers.

The results are interesting, although perhaps not surprising to anyone who has been bombarded by scam emails and phone calls informing you, in increasingly inventive ways, that your Netflix account has been suspended, that you are being investigated … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Court narrows scope of federal wire fraud statutes

For decades, the Supreme Court has steadily narrowed the scope of the federal criminal wire fraud statutes, and Thursday’s decision in Ciminelli v. United States is no exception. The court held that the federal criminal wire fraud statutes do not incorporate a “right to control” theory of fraud. The court referenced both federalism and overcriminalization concerns in narrowing the scope of the wire fraud statutes, pushing federal prosecutors to be more precise in articulating fraud cases against suspicious state … Read the rest

Supreme Court

A bungled house sale, a bankrupt couple, and a statutory puzzle involving debts incurred through fraud

The court will hear its second bankruptcy case of the week next Tuesday, with Bartenwerfer v. Buckley following close on the heels of the Monday argument in MOAC Mall Holdings LLC v. Transform Holdco LLC. The cases could hardly be more different. MOAC Mall Holdings involves the assignment of a shopping-center lease in a large corporate reorganization. Bartenwerfer presents a single impecunious debtor attempting to discharge a debt incurred through the fraud of her husband.

The case involves … Read the rest

Supreme Court

In New York bid-rigging case, justices are dubious of the “right to control” theory of fraud

The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Monday in the case of Louis Ciminelli, an executive convicted of federal wire fraud in connection with bid-rigging to secure a $ 750 million New York state contract. The trial court informed a federal jury regarding a “right to control” theory of fraud, and the jury convicted Ciminelli. At argument, Justice Neil Gorsuch remarked at the “radical agreement” among all that the right-to-control theory was flawed, but there was less consensus as … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices will review scope of identity theft in case involving Medicaid fraud

The Supreme Court announced on Thursday afternoon that it will weigh in on what it means to commit identity theft. After holding their private conference a day early because Friday is a federal holiday, the justices released a one-sentence order list that added one new case to their merits docket for the 2022-23 term: Dubin v. United States.

The defendant in the case is David Dubin, who was convicted of Medicaid fraud. As the dispute comes to the … Read the rest

LEDO PIZZA SYSTEM, INC. & LEDO PIZZA CARRYOUTS, INC., Plaintiffs,v.LEDO’S INC., Defendant.

LEDO PIZZA SYSTEM, INC. & LEDO PIZZA CARRYOUTS, INC., Plaintiffs,
v.
LEDO’S INC., Defendant.