◆ In a major national enforcement action, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal agencies said Sept. 30 they have charged 345 people, including more than 100 physicians, in a scheme involving the alleged submission of $6 billion in false claims to federal health care programs and private insurers.^[1] “The largest amount of alleged fraud loss charged in connection with the cases announced today—$4.5 billion in allegedly false and fraudulent claims submitted by more than 86 criminal defendants in 19 judicial districts—relates to schemes involving telemedicine,” DOJ said.

◆ Richard Liriano, a former information technology employee at a New York City area hospital, was sentenced to 30 months in prison in connection with a scheme to use malicious software on dozens of his coworkers’ computers , the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York saidOct. 2.^[2]Liriano got access to the user names and passwords of their personal emails. “Using his victims’ stolen credentials, Liriano repeatedly compromised their password-protected online accounts, and accessed their sensitive personal photographs, videos, and other private documents,” the U.S. attorney’s office said. His intrusions also cost the hospital $350,000, including expenses to remediate the damage Liriano caused on its computer networks.