Well, I’ve been lookin’ real hard
And I’m tryin’ to fight the frauds
But it just keeps gettin’ tougher every day
But I got to do my part
‘Cause I know in my heart
I’m a False Claims Act lawyer, baby, yeah
Much like the Steve Miller Band, we have been rock’n here at Bracker & Marcus. Julie and Jason were again named to the Georgia Super Lawyers list. And we added another lawyer / former GBI agent to help us out.
In addition to our usual healthcare fraud and procurement cases, our cyberfraud and PPP practices are two of the most prolific in the nation, and we are starting to see results.
Here are some of our recent False Claims Act settlements:
A $13.5 Million Settlement for Ordering Medically Unnecessary Power Wheelchairs
First, in Arizona, power wheelchair company Numotion agreed to pay $13.5 million to resolve allegations that certain of the company’s salesmen (known as Assistive Technology Professionals) were “scribing” orders for wheelchairs and wheelchair accessories.
The problem with this practice is that only medical providers actually ordering the wheelchairs for the patients should be writing the orders for those wheelchairs. Otherwise, ATPs (who usually work on commission) have incentive to order power wheelchairs more advanced (and more expensive) than what the patient actually needs, with all the bells and whistles to boot.
Moreover, sometimes the patients actually receive less than what they needed, since certain upgrades could prevent the patients from being able to use the wheelchair as needed or if the ATP was more focused on the high-dollar upgrades and not the patients’ actual needs.
We represented the company’s Arizona Director of Sales Operations, who had spent months trying to stop the scribing and to reverse the billing to Government insurance. However, though hardly surprising, the scribing ATPs were also the highest billing ATPs, and so they were also the most difficult to discipline.
It should be noted that Numotion did cooperate with the Government’s investigation, and it even disclosed some scribing ATPs that were not in the original whistleblower complaints. For this reason, as well as concerns about Numotion’s ability to pay a larger settlement, the Government did not apply the same level of penalties as it might have had Numotion denied and fought the allegations. DOJ rewards defendants who “self-disclose” because it saves the Government time and resources.
Congratulations to AUSA Lon Leavitt and DOJ attorney Kelley Hauser for this excellent result. And our thanks to Shifa Alkhatib of HKM Employment Attorneys for inviting us to work on this case with her. And of course thank you and congratulations to our brave relator for doing the right thing in bringing this case to the Government’s attention.
Three More PPP Settlements by Sidesolve Totaling More than $1 Million
Our PPP “outsider” client, Sidesolve LLC, has its third, fourth, and fifth PPP settlements.
In December 2023, Sidesolve tied for the (then) largest PPP settlement, a $9 million settlement with a group of affiliated roofing companies that were too large to qualify for PPP lending. This case was resolved by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
In April 2024, we announced that Sidesolve had an intervened PPP settlement with a marijuana-related business called Docklight Brands. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington settled that matter for just under $1 million.
Since then, Sidesolve has continued to diversify its cases by investigating new theories of PPP fraud. After the initial wave of PPP loans called the First Draw, Congress extended the program and funded a Second Draw. However, this time, in response to public outrage and political pressures, Congress implemented a number of restrictions that prohibited certain types of entities from obtaining PPP loans, such as lobbyists, publicly traded companies, and companies owned by Chinese parent companies.
It is under this last theory that the Western District of North Carolina recently settled with Taiji Group USA, a company owned by Wuxi Taiji in China. The domestic arm of Taiji obtained a loan and forgiveness of $274,189 and is repaying the federal government $460,395.09 under the terms of the settlement.
Another of the Second Draw restrictions was against “think tanks” engaged in political or lobbying activities.
In November, AUSA Sean Tepe and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia settled with a think tank that obtained a Second Draw loan and forgiveness for $479,660.
Then, in January, AUSA Matt Waldrop and the Western District of Washington settled with a think tank that obtained a Second Draw loan and forgiveness for $237,673.98.
Collectively, Sidesolve has returned more than $11 million to the federal fisc to date.
More to come from Bracker & Marcus
Our work doesn’t stop here. We have additional settlements in the pipeline, some nearing resolution and others awaiting unsealing. Stay tuned for more updates from Bracker & Marcus!