What is Medicaid? Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that helps cover medical costs for some people with limited income and resources.
What is Georgia Medicaid? Medicaid is a “medical assistance program that helps many people who cannot afford medical care pay for some or all of their medical bills. Medicaid is administered by the Georgia Department of Community Health and pays medical bills with state and federal tax money.”
What is Medicaid Fraud?
On June 13, 2024, two health care executives of Done Global Inc were indicted for health care fraud related charges. The indictment alleges that the two participated in a scheme to distribute Adderall over the internet, conspire to commit health care fraud in connection with the submission of false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement for Adderall and other stimulants, and obstruct justice.
“As alleged, these defendants exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to develop and carry out a $100 million scheme to defraud taxpayers and provide easy access to Adderall and other stimulants for no legitimate medical purpose,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. These arrests mark the DOJ’s 1st criminal drug distribution prosecutions related to prescribing via telemedicine, the agency said.
Conaway & Strickler represent healthcare providers in fighting against allegations such as these by agencies such as the DOJ, HHS-OIG, FBI, Georgia Medicaid Fraud Control Units and cases nationwide. We have litigated federal healthcare cases in NJ, NY, LA, FL, TX and GA. We also represent healthcare providers in medical and professional licensing board matters as well.
By: Onisuru Ojegba, Legal Intern to Firm
J.D. Candidate, Class of 2025
The George Washington University Law School
By: Onisuru Ojegba Legal Intern to the firm
Insurance fraud consists of crimes where an individual consumer or insurance company, agent, or adjuster commits deliberate deception to obtain illicit profits or benefits. While the classification of insurance fraud is broad and consists of many different variations, including health care fraud, life insurance fraud, and unemployment fraud, the crime occurs in the same manner; during the process of buying, selling, or underwriting insurance.
While every state has its own laws which criminalize insurance fraud, federal law does not specifically address the crime. Instead, federal law addresses insurance fraud through The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (1994), which gives the Federal Government jurisdiction over insurance fraud once a transaction crosses state lines (either physically or through wire). The alleged fraud then falls into the federal government’s jurisdiction and will be prosecuted at the federal level. Title 18 U.S. Code § 1033: specifically outlines this jurisdiction as Crimes by or affecting persons engaged in the business of insurance whose activities affect interstate commerce. This law separates insurance fraud into 5 categories including:
Meg Strickler recently signed up for some new advertising with Avvo
So, after filling out all of these various things for the Avvo profile, we decided to ask some direct questions of managing partner, Meg Strickler
On May 17, 2021, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the establishment of the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force.
On March 10, 2022, Garland announced Associate Deputy Attorney General Kevin Chambers as the Director For Covid-19 Fraud Enforcement.
In August, 2022, President Biden signed laws that give the Department of Justice and other federal agencies more time to investigate and prosecute Covid-19 fraud. It extended the statute of limitations for fraud charges involving PPP and EIDL fraud to ten years.
But,what if a threat is simply a result of a prank? What charges could result from calling in a threat that is not real? Criminal defense attorney Meg Strickler recently commented on NBC 11 Alive News about this very issue. Calling in a threat to a school can be very disruptive and it will always involve law enforcement. Teens can thus face charges ranging from misdemeanor to federal charges. And, the school can also suspend or expel a student for this conduct.
It is a complex situation especially in these times.
Once the search warrant is signed by the judge, the search warrant will be executed. Generally, the government will work to execute the warrant with local law enforcement officials. The search can take hours, and often times, questioning will occur at the same time. NEVER SPEAK TO LAW ENFORCEMENT at this juncture without a lawyer. This interview at your home or office is often recorded by body cam, audio, and other video devices. It can be difficult to get those statements excluded at trial for a variety of reasons.
After the execution of the search warrant, a copy of the search warrant inventory will be left, and it will list out exactly what was seized. In the case of the execution of the search warrant for Donald Trump, there is a search warrant, sworn affidavit, and application filed, but it is under seal. Mr. Trump also received a search warrant inventory. Hopefully, these documents will be released to the public sooner than later.
When the PPP program was first created, it was meant to assist business left struggling by the Covid-19 pandemic. One of the key provisions of the program, was that the Small Business Administration (SBA) would guarantee the loan which meant that borrowers could secure loans more easily. As mentioned in a previous blog, the government in the spring of 2020 started to go after the most egregious and problematic PPP loan applications and payments and really ramped up prosecutions.
But now, the DOJ, IRS, SEC etc are shifting their focus to more complex investigations. We have clients where the government is scrutinizing every aspect of the loan application such as
-was the box checked stating that you only had one entity
Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyers Blog