More than $8 million has been collected this fiscal year related to criminal and civil actions in the Southern District of Illinois.
U.S. Attorney Stephen Wigginton said in a release that $6,553,351.74 was collected in civil and $2,248,737.31 was collected in criminal actions, for a total of $8,802,089.05. In addition, the office collected $1,394,686.00 in criminal and civil forfeitures.
A significant portion of funds recovered - $4,836,822 - came about through civil settlements with several hospitals for alleged Stark Law violations.
The alleged violations by the hospitals involved collecting rent from physicians on expired office space lease agreements or equipment lease agreements, the release states. The alleged violations also included payments made to physicians or physician groups for independent contractor agreements, services agreements, recruitment agreements, and employment agreements in which the agreements were expired, not in writing, and/or the parties failed to follow the terms of the written contract.
Nationwide, United States Attorneys’ offices collected $13.1 billion in criminal and civil actions during fiscal year 2012, more than doubling the $6.5 billion collected in fiscal year 2011.
A portion of this amount, $5.3 billion, was collected in shared cases in which one or more U.S. Attorneys’ offices or department litigating divisions were jointly involved.