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When one parent unlawfully takes her or his child abroad, the other is left with a difficult judicial battle. To ensure the prompt return of abducted children, more than 90 states, including all EU countries, are signed up to the 1980 Hague Convention, which offers a common legal framework. MEPs debate Tuesday the possibility of another eight countries joining the Convention and they will vote on it Wednesday. Follow it live on our website.

ResCare Iowa Inc. has agreed to pay $5.63 million to the United States and the state of Iowa to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false home healthcare billings to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, the Department of Justice announced on Fedruary 10. ResCare Iowa – a subsidiary of Louisville, Kentucky, based ResCare Inc. – provides home healthcare services to patients in the state of Iowa.

The general manager of a Southern California ambulance company was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for his role in a $5.5 million scheme to defraud the Medicare program on February 9.

On February 9, the Justice Department announced that under its settlements with five of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers, 952 service members and their co-borrowers are eligible to receive over $123 million for non-judicial foreclosures that violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).

A federal court in Orlando, Florida, has permanently barred two managers of tax preparation stores in Florida from preparing tax returns for others and from owning or operating a tax return preparation business, the Justice Department announced on February 6.

On February 6, Good Shepherd Hospice Inc., Good Shepherd Hospice of Mid America Inc., Good Shepherd Hospice, Wichita, L.L.C., Good Shepherd Hospice, Springfield, L.L.C., and Good Shepherd Hospice – Dallas L.L.C. (collectively Good Shepherd) agreed to pay $4 million to resolve allegations that Good Shepherd submitted false claims for hospice patients who were not terminally ill. Good Shepherd is a for-profit hospice headquartered in Oklahoma City which provides hospice services in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Texas.

Medical device manufacturer Medtronic Inc. has agreed to pay the United States $2.8 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that Medtronic caused certain physicians to submit false claims to federal health care programs for a medical procedure known as “SubQ stimulation,” the Justice Department announced on February 6. Medtronic Inc. is a medical technology company based in Minnesota.

A Palmdale, California resident who defrauded a federal government program designed to provide computers to needy schools and non-profits was sentenced on February 5 in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 10 years in prison for wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and filing a false income tax return, announced Acting United States Attorney Annette L. Hayes. STEVEN ALEXANDER BOLDEN, 51, pleaded guilty in January 2014. His sentencing was delayed while criminal charges in California were resolved. At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez ordered BOLDEN to pay $7.2 million in restitution. Judge Martinez said, “You’ve been a con man for a long, long time. . . You committed a very serious crime . . . Stealing from children . . . Children all across America.”

Dongping “Daniel” Tao, a former mining engineering professor at the University of Kentucky, admitted in federal court that he defrauded the University out of tens of thousands of dollars, in items and services on February 05.

Medical device manufacturer ev3 Inc., formerly known as Fox Hollow Technologies Inc., has agreed to pay the United States $1.25 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that Fox Hollow caused certain hospitals to submit false claims to Medicare for unnecessary inpatient admissions related to minimally-invasive atherectomy procedures, the Justice Department announced on February 5.