In the News

The Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University has compiled a list of criminal justice ballot measures in the 2020 election, by state and by type of reform, to inform voters of what drug reform initiatives or criminal justice reforms are on the ballot in their states. The article lists, for example, Arizona as the only state where possession of any amount of marijuana is a felony and where voters can vote to legalize recreational weed after the initiative barely failed in 2016. The article also lists measures in California to allow certain felons to vote and reform cash bail. Oregon, on the other hand, will have a ballot measure giving residents the power to decriminalize possession of any kind of drug.

The DOJ has announced that Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical corporation best known for making the opioid pain killer Oxycotin, will plead guilty to three federal criminal charges relating to its role in creating to the opioid crisis. Purdue Pharma will be pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and violate the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and two counts of conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute based on payments to healthcare providers and a cloud-based electronic health records company that Purdue worked with in relation to its distribution of opioid pain medication. The plea agreement calls for over $8 billion in fines and fees and will require the company, which previously filed for bankruptcy, to dissolve.

October 13, 2020. The Department of Justice announced today that it has charged over 14,200 people with various kinds of firearms offenses in 2020, with potentially more to come.The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta announced that its office brought in at least 336 of the 14,200 firearms cases, and the charges include possession of a firearm by someone in a prohibited class (such as felon, illegal alien, or drug user), possession of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime of drug trafficking offense (924(c)), unlawful purchase of a firearm, and false statements in connection with registering a firearm with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, such as by lying on an ATF Form.

A federal judge in D.C. issued an order preventing the Trump DOJ’s Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice from continuing to work and release its final report, holding that the make up of the commission, almost entirely construed of former and current members of law enforcement and prosecutors, violated statutory obligations under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to have a “fairly balanced” membership and provide transparency.

On October 7, 2020, the DOJ and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia announced several prosecutions of “telemedicine fraud” as a result of the federal government’s aggressive approach in Operation Rubber Stamp, including one case involving $1.5 billion in allegedly fraudulent bills to government health insurance programs. The feds allege that several individuals and companies involved in “telemedicine,” where patients can attend virtual appointments with their doctors, were collecting patient data and selling it to pharmacies, labs, and durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers. These “telemedicine executives” are accused of paying doctors and other healthcare providers to order unnecessary DME, lab tests, or prescription pain medication after brief telemedicine appoints or for patients they never actually saw, and bill the government for those allegedly unnecessary services. Hence, the rubber stamp.

The DOJ and DEA have announced the arrests of 179 people and the seizure of $6.5 million stemming from an international investigation targeting suspected opioid trafficking through the Darknet. Individuals have been arrested in 7 different countries on charges relating to selling opioids through the internet and will likely see additional charges such as money laundering.

Prosecutor John Choi, the elected head prosecutor of Ramsey County, Minnesota, has resigned his position on the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice. The Commission was established under President Trump to study the social impact of policing and explore ways to improve policing. Choi cited the Commission’s pro-law enforcement bias and “tough on crime” agenda in his resignation, foreshadowing that the Commission’s recommendations and findings will likely inspire controversy.

On September 2, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion that, while affirming the convictions of the defendants raising the appeals, held that the mass surveillance program operated by the National Security Agency (NSA) violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and was potentially unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. In 2013, Edward […]

The DOJ and FBI have announced several measures to “build a more robust internal compliance program” overseeing the FBI’s applications for warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Spurred by the president’s criticisms of FISA and an Inspector General report critical of the FBI’s use of FISA warrants, the reforms seek to “ensure the accuracy of FISA applications, as well as the active oversight of applications targeting elected officials, candidates for federal elected offices, and their staffs.”

Recent growth in the telemedicine field as a result of COVID-19 has prompted the government to take an aggressive approach in targeting suspected healthcare fraud. As more healthcare providers adapt to the new environment under COVID-19 and try to provide telemedicine services to their patients, there is a real risk that the government ends up targeting providers who are new to telemedicine and are simply making mistakes due to a lack of familiarity with the regulations. Further increasing this risk is the fact that the federal government has created “dozens of new billing codes” and waived certain limitations and regulations given the COVID-19 pandemic, making it harder for healthcare providers to know what is and isn’t allowed in the rapidly changing new world of telemedicine.