Law Enforcement | WPN World People News

Rolls-Royce plc, the United Kingdom-based manufacturer and distributor of power systems for the aerospace, defense, marine and energy sectors, has agreed to pay the U.S. nearly $170 million as part of an $800 million global resolution to investigations by the department, U.K. and Brazilian authorities into a long-running scheme to bribe government officials in exchange for government contracts.

John Todd Williams, the owner of a debt collection company based in Georgia, used illegal and aggressive tactics to squeeze millions of dollars from thousands of victims. Now Williams is paying his own debt—to society—in the form of a five-year prison sentence.

A U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander was sentenced on January 12 to 30 months in prison for accepting cash, hotel expenses and the services of a prostitute from foreign defense contractor Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) in exchange for classified Navy information.

Healthcare company Baxter Healthcare Corporation (Baxter) has agreed to pay $18.158 million to resolve its criminal and civil liability arising from Baxter’s failure to follow current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) when manufacturing sterile drug products in North Carolina, on January 12, the Department of Justice announced.

Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (Zimmer Biomet), an Indiana-based manufacturer of orthopedic and dental implant devices, has agreed to pay a $17.4 million criminal penalty in connection with a scheme to pay bribes to government officials in Mexico and for violations of the internal controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) involving the company’s operations in Mexico and Brazil.

A Montana couple pleaded on January 11 guilty in federal court in Missoula, Montana to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and U.S. Attorney Michael W. Cotter for the District of Montana.

The Justice Department on January 11 announced that Shire Pharmaceuticals LLC and other subsidiaries of Shire plc (Shire) will pay $350 million to settle federal and state False Claims Act allegations that Shire and the company it acquired in 2011, Advanced BioHealing (ABH), employed kickbacks and other unlawful methods to induce clinics and physicians to use or overuse its product “Dermagraft,” a bioengineered human skin substitute approved by the FDA for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.

A former general manager and partial owner of a Florida-based energy company and an owner of multiple Texas-based energy companies each on January 10 pleaded guilty to foreign bribery charges for their roles in a scheme to corruptly secure contracts from Venezuela’s state-owned and state-controlled energy company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA).

Court documents were unsealed charging four individuals for their roles in a scheme to pay $2.5 million in bribes to facilitate the $800 million sale of a commercial building in Vietnam to a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund, on January 10.

Texas-based MB2 Dental Solutions (MB2) and 21 pediatric dental practices affiliated with MB2, along with their owners and marketing chief, have agreed to pay the United States and the State of Texas Medicaid program $8.45 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting, or causing the submission of, claims for pediatric dental services that were not rendered, were tainted by kickbacks, or falsely identified the person who performed the service, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.