Chevron Will Pay Over $45 Million For Underpaying Royalties

On December 23, 2009, the Department of Justice reported the settlement of a False Claims Act case involving Chevron Corporation, Texaco, Unocal Incorporated and their affiliates (the Chevron companies), for violating the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian leases. The companies have agreed to pay the United States $45,569,584.74 to resolve the allegations.

The case was initiated by whistleblower Harrold Wright under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private citizens to file actions on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery. Because Mr. Wright is deceased, his heirs will receive $12,303,787.88, plus interest, as part of this settlement.

Each month, companies are required to report to the Minerals Management Service the value of the natural gas produced from their federal and Indian leases and pay a percentage of the reported value as royalties. This settlement resolves claims by the United States that the Chevron, Texaco and Unocal companies systematically under reported the value of natural gas they took from federal and Indian leases from March 1988 to November 2008 and so paid less in royalties then they owed.

Specifically, the companies were alleged to have 1) improperly deducted the cost of boosting gas up to pipeline pressures, 2) used affiliate transactions to fraudulently reduce the reported value of gas taken from federal and Indian leases, and 3) improperly reported processed gas as unprocessed gas to reduce royalty payments.

“This settlement successfully ends long-standing litigation and ensures that taxpayers receive their fair share of royalty revenues from energy production on federal and American Indian lands,” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. “Most of the $45 million settlement will be disbursed to appropriate federal, state and American Indian accounts that were affected by Chevron companies’ underpayment of natural gas royalties and improper deductions.”

The suit brought by Mr. Wright alleges that a number of companies systematically underpaid royalties due for their production of natural gas from federal and Indian lands. The Justice Department previously settled with Burlington Resources Inc. for $105.3 million, Shell Oil Company for $56 million and Dominion Exploration and Production Company for $2 million.

If you are seeing fraud on the government, contact us by calling 800-377-1812 for strictly confidential advice from experienced counsel, with no fee obligation.

University of Phoenix Caught Cheating Government; Will Pay $78.5 Million

On December 14, 2009, Earth Times reported the $78.5 million settlement of a False Claims Act lawsuit against the University of Phoenix. The lawsuit, which was started by whistleblowers, alleged that the University used false statements to obtain an excess of federal student loans and Pell Grant monies. Reportedly, the University was making incentive payments to recruiters based on the number of students they recruited or enrolled–a direct violation of the Higher Education Act.

“The Higher Education Act prohibits colleges and universities whose students receive federal financial aid from paying their recruiters based on the number of students enrolled, which creates a risk of encouraging recruitment of unqualified students,” explained Nancy Krop, another lawyer on the trial team. “This case focused a powerful spotlight on that law, and how Congress meant it to be applied.”

“The settlement is a huge victory for taxpayers and the federal government,” according to Robert J. Nelson, lead attorney for the whistleblower plaintiffs. “This settlement sends a clear message to the for-profit education industry compliance with the Higher Education Act’s incentive compensation ban must be achieved,” said Nelson.
The University of Phoenix, which denied the whistleblowers’ allegations, previously paid $9.8 million to the Department of Education in 2004 to resolve administrative claims that it was paying improper incentive compensation to its recruiters. Those administrative proceedings were triggered by the allegations of the same whistleblowers in this case. Nearly $11 million of the $78.5 million will be allocated as statutory attorneys’ fees and costs, a portion of which will be paid to the whistleblowers who brought the case.

The False Claims Act is a federal statute that permits whistleblowers to sue on behalf of the government for fraud committed against the government and to share in the recovery if the suit is successful.

If you are seeing fraud on the government, contact us by calling 800-377-1812 for strictly confidential advice from experienced counsel, with no fee obligation.

Walgreens Settlement

Small Pharmacy Chain Does the Right Thing

With Medicare and Medicaid fraud becoming more and more prevalent it is imperative that whistleblowers like Dan Bieurance and Neil Thompson do the right thing when companies like Walgreens repeatedly over-bill taxpayers. Not all pharmacy chains are as suspect. Take The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company (Stop & Shop), which recently voluntarily reported and returned $269,000 to the Massachusetts Medicaid Program.

From the Press Release:

Stop & Shop…discovered during an audit in 2006 that it had not reported the lowest price it had accepted for certain prescription drug products to MassHealth.  By not reporting the lower prices to MassHealth, Stop and Shop was overpaid by $269,000.  Massachusetts law requires pharmacies to charge Medicaid no more than the lowest price they are willing to accept from any “payer.”  If the pharmacies’ price is lower than the price calculated by the state’s pricing formula, then the state will pay the lowest price.

It is encouraging to see companies self-policing themselves and doing the right thing for their companies and American tax payers. When companies do engage in fraud, either as a mater of practice or oversight, whistleblowers must come forward to do the right thing for them.

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