MARYLAND NEWS

The United States alleged that Patrick Britton-Harr owned and operated Provista Health, LLC as well as multiple other corporate entities that sought to profit from the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic by offering COVID-19 tests to nursing homes as a way to bill Medicare for a wide array of medically unnecessary respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) tests. The complaint alleged that these RPP tests were not medically necessary because the beneficiaries had no symptoms of a respiratory illness and because the tests were for uncommon respiratory pathogens.

Despite a court order prohibiting Britton-Harr from selling his house in Annapolis without approval from the court, he sold the house on September 23, 2023, for $575,000 and dissipated the financial proceeds from the sale. On March 4, 2024, the court granted the United States’ motion to hold Britton-Harr in civil contempt for violating this order and ordered him to deposit $575,000 with the court’s registry.

On July 18th, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland entered default judgments for the United States totaling $26,341,951.38 against Patrick Britton-Harr and multiple laboratory companies owned by him for violations of the False Claims Act.  The court entered these judgments after Britton-Harr and his companies failed to defend against the United States’ allegations.

Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

A federal judge sentenced two people in Rockville for filing fraudulent Unemployment Insurance claims. The convictions stem from at least 38 fraudulent unemployment claims filed in 2020 in the names of identity theft victims, causing the Maryland Department of Labor to distribute more than $500,000 in benefits on bank debit cards with the defendants' own physical address on the claims.

Source: Maryland Attorney General

Victims Of the Fraud Scheme Included the Worcester County Treasurer’s Office and Numerous Individuals Worldwide

Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

The University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) has agreed to pay $500,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by failing to disclose current and pending support from foreign sources for faculty members who were principal investigators (PI) or co-PIs of federal research grant proposals.

The settlement relates to research grant support UMD received from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of the Army between 2015 and 2020. These agencies require grant applicants to disclose all current and pending support received by the institution, its PIs, and co-PIs.  Current and pending support is defined as all resources from whatever source — including foreign government sources — that are made available to researchers in support of and/or related to their research endeavors. The agencies rely on the accuracy of these disclosures, in part, to avoid funding duplicative research projects and to ensure their highly competitive grants are awarded only to PIs who demonstrate they have the time and ability to perform the planned work. Non-disclosure of required information can result in missed opportunities for other applicants to receive funding for their own research.

Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

On July 3 the Maryland Board of Public Works approved a contract for almost $20 million to upgrade Maryland’s EBT (electronic benefits transfer)  system, which delivers benefits to Marylanders eligible for the Temporary Cash Assistance Program, the Temporary Disability Assistance Program and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).Source Baltimore Sun via msn.com

 

Source: WMAR2news.com and Maryland Attorney General’s Office

According to the DOJ, a federal grand jury in Maryland returned an indictment charged Amin Timovich Stigal (Амин Тимович Стигал), 22, a Russian citizen, with conspiracy to hack into and destroy computer systems and data. Source: WJZ-TV via msn.com, FBI wanted poster, DOJ press release.

Defendant Used Taxpayer Funds to Travel Internationally, Stay at Luxury Resorts, including the Four Seasons Hotel, Purchase Property and Open a Beachfront Restaurant in Egypt.

According to the plea agreement and other court documents, from April 2020 through January 2022, he and his co-conspirators prepared false and fraudulent PPP loan and EIDL applications for a number of borrowers in exchange for a kickback, typically ranging from 20 percent to 30 percent of the loan amount.  The fraudulent PPP and EIDL loan applications prepared by Sary, and his co-conspirators grossly inflated the purported businesses’ number of employees, monthly payroll costs, and revenue numbers, including for businesses that didn’t exist in any legitimate capacity. Source: US Attorney, District of Maryland

The company illegally commingled commercial with residential garbage to avoid tipping fees, the IG said. Source: Baltimore Brew and Baltimore County IG report.

The charges allege that from 2020 through at least October 2023, the former Councilman embezzled $124,450 from the Friends of Mel Franklin campaign account by electronically transferring funds or writing checks to his personal bank account. According to the charges, Franklin used the funds from the campaign account to pay for, among other things, personal loans and credit card debt, his personal rent, personal subscriptions, and cosmetic procedures for him and a close friend. Source: Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor