Careers

Experiences

Industries

Offices

Our Firm

Pages

Our People

Updates

Practices

Home - Warner Norcross + Judd LLP

As the dust begins to settle from the nation’s herculean effort to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched several new enforcement efforts to prosecute individuals and entities which took advantage of the crisis for personal gain. The DOJ calls its <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-takes-action-against-covid-19-fraud" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">enforcement response</a> to COVID-19 fraud “historic” and promises to prosecute anyone who engages in such fraud “to the fullest extent of the law.” Over 500 individuals have already been charged with COVID-19-related fraud, with many more charges likely on the way. Critically, the DOJ is leveraging its vast databases to look for suspicious billing trends. This means that honest providers who happen to have unusual billing patterns — regardless of the cause — can easily get caught up in the DOJ’s expansive dragnet.

contentpilot/introduction

The challenge, as always, is to distinguish between honest mistakes and true criminal intent. What should providers, who were faced with any number of new rules designed to facilitate a rapid response to the pandemic, do to ensure they remain on the right side of that line?   Although the enforcement trends are still developing, the DOJ appears to be focusing on several areas that are potentially rife for abuse, including:

core/paragraph

core/list

This article was also published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal and can be read <a href="https://grbj.com/opinion/guest-column/beware-the-dojs-post-covid-19-enforcement-priorities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Health Care

Of Counsel

Devin S. Schindler

Associate

Jeffrey S. “Jeff” Segal

Beware the Department of Justice’s New Post-COVID-19 Enforcement Priorities

The Warner Norcross + Judd LLP lawyer responsible for the contents of our advertising and this website is managing partner <a href="/people/mark-j-wassink/" aria-label="Mark Wassink">Mark Wassink</a> who can be reached at <a href="mailto:mwassink@wnj.com" aria-label="email Mark Wassink">mwassink@wnj.com</a> or 616.752.2189. Please read our full <a href="/privacy-policy/" aria-label="see privacy policy">privacy policy</a> available on our website.

Beware the Department of Justice’s New Post-COVID-19 Enforcement Priorities

professionals