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Two Tennessee health care executives were charged in an indictment unsealed for their alleged participation in a $4.6 million Medicare kickback scheme involving durable medical equipment (DME), on April 9.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Attorney General Jeff Sessions released, on April 6, a fiscal year (FY) 2017 Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program report showing that for every dollar the federal government spent on healthcare related fraud and abuse investigations in the last three years, the government recovered $4. Additionally, the report shows that the departments’ FY 2017 Takedown event was the single largest healthcare fraud enforcement operation in history.

With the tax season in full swing, the Justice Department warns taxpayers to avoid unscrupulous tax return preparers who seek to harm taxpayers, and also reminds taxpayers that they could still be responsible for any unpaid taxes, penalties, and interest, resulting from errors made on their returns.

A federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, has returned an indictment, which was unsealed on April 5th, charging a woman with filing false tax returns and wire fraud, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Louis V. Franklin, Sr. for the Middle District of Alabama.

A federal grand jury sitting in Fort Pierce, Florida, has returned an indictment, which was unsealed on April 5th, charging a Hobe Sound, Florida, resident with tax evasion, mail fraud, wire fraud, theft of government funds, and Social Security disability fraud announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

Texas-based SightLine Health LLC (SightLine), which operates radiation therapy centers throughout the United States, has agreed to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging that it knowingly submitted claims to the Medicare program that violated the Anti‑Kickback Statute, the Justice Department announced on March 29. Together with Integrated Oncology Network Holdings LLC (ION), which acquired SightLine in 2011, SightLine has agreed to pay the government up to $11.5 million.

A federal jury in the District of New Jersey found the former chief executive officer and the former vice president of a now-bankrupt public air charter operator guilty for their roles in a scheme to steal millions of dollars in passenger money for future travel from an escrow account, on March 28th, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Todd A. Damiani of the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General’s New England Field Office.

A New Orleans, Louisiana woman was sentenced to 32 months in prison for her involvement in a $3.2 million Medicare fraud and kickback scheme, on March 28.

Medical Transport LLC, a Virginia Beach-based provider of ambulance services, agreed to pay $9 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims for ambulance transports, the Justice Department announced on March 28.

A Maryland woman was sentenced to 28 months in prison for her involvement in a scheme to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars in income tax refunds, on March 27th, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia, Special Agent in Charge Kimberly Lappin of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Washington D.C. Field Office, Inspector in Charge Robert B. Wemyss of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Washington Division and Assistant Inspector General for Investigations John L. Phillips of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.