Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

LB&B Associates Inc. and its principals, Lily A. Brandon and F. Edward Brandon, have agreed to pay the government $7.8 million to resolve allegations that they made false statements to obtain contracts through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) 8(a) Business Development Program for Small Disadvantaged Businesses, the Justice Department announced on July 6. LB&B is a North Carolina corporation headquartered in Columbia, Maryland.

AstraZeneca LP has agreed to pay the United States and participating states a total of $46.5 million, plus interest, to resolve allegations that it knowingly underpaid rebates owed under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, the Justice Department announced on July 6. Of that amount, AstraZeneca will pay roughly $26.7 million, plus interest, to the United States, and the remainder to states participating in the settlement.

Two residents of Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, pleaded guilty Thursday to multiple criminal charges for their involvement in a stolen identity tax refund fraud scheme, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite Jr. of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

A Fort Campbell Army Sergeant pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with contracting for supplies while serving in Afghanistan.

The Department filed a complaint Tuesday seeking the civil forfeiture of approximately $34 million, which represents the cash value of shares in a Canadian energy company that the company used to bribe Chad’s former Ambassador to the United States and Canada for the purpose of influencing the award of oil development rights.

VMware Inc. and Carahsoft Technology Corporation have agreed to pay $75.5 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting their commercial pricing practices and overcharging the government on VMware software products and related services, the Department of Justice announced on June 30. VMware is a Delaware corporation that specializes in computer virtualization software and has its principal place of business in Palo Alto, California.

The former owner of Ezcor Medical Supply was sentenced Monday to serve 97 months in prison for her role in a fraud scheme that resulted in $3.5 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal.

A former state representative and Pikeville, Kentucky, coal operator, Wendell Keith Hall, has been convicted by a jury of bribing a federal mine official.

A Douglas, Massachusetts, dentist was sentenced on Friday to serve 16 months in prison for tax evasion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

Agron Hasbajrami, 31, an Albanian citizen and resident of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty on June 26 to attempting and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists before U.S. District Judge John Gleeson of the Eastern District of New York. At sentencing, the defendant faces up to 20 years in prison.