TRENTON
– Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa
announced today that the State obtained settlements
and judgments totaling approximately $150
million in 2011 through its civil enforcement
litigation efforts.
Settlements
and judgments obtained by the State included
$53 million from lawsuits related to alleged
consumer, securities and other fraud, $42
million through environmental litigation
and $20 million via lawsuits related to
debt recovery.
The
bulk of the State’s affirmative litigation
is handled by attorneys with the Division
of Law, which is responsible for providing
legal counsel and representation to agencies
of State government. In addition, attorneys
assigned to the Office of the Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor obtained more than $10
million in civil judgments in 2011 against
those accused of fraud and abuse of public
health care insurance benefits programs.
”Our
civil enforcement attorneys continue to
do an excellent job of upholding New Jersey’s
laws and protecting the State’s assets,”
said Attorney General Chiesa. “The
judgments and settlements obtained through
litigation last year are important, particularly
during these challenging fiscal times. They
also show that a consistently-high caliber
of legal work is being done by dedicated
public servants on behalf of New Jersey
citizens.”
”Civil
enforcement efforts are among the Division
of Law’s top priorities,” said
Division of Law Director Christopher Porrino.
“We
will continue to pursue monetary and other
relief,” Porrino said, “in cases
where New Jerseyans have been defrauded
or taken advantage of, the State's resources
have been compromised, or government programs
have been abused.”
In
New Jersey, the Attorney General’s
Office has a statutory duty to serve as
both legal adviser to all “officers,
departments, boards, bodies, commissions
and instrumentalities” of State government,
and to defend State laws. It is through
the Division of Law that this aspect of
the Attorney General’s mission is
accomplished.
Among
the judgments obtained by Division of Law
attorneys in 2011 was a significant one
against defendant Casey Properties of Montville
in a civil mortgage fraud case. The Casey
Properties matter involved a bogus mortgage
and investment scam that encompassed approximately
70 properties and affected 35 consumers.
Division lawyers obtained a combined $14.7
million judgment against the principal defendants.
Division
lawyers also obtained a consent judgment
for $1 million against Best Interest Rate
Mortgage Company, a South Jersey mortgage
loan modification business, and its three
principals, to resolve civil charges the
firm required up-front fees in violation
of the Debt Adjustment and Credit Counseling
Act, and falsely promised to help certain
consumers modify their mortgages in violation
of the Consumer Fraud Act.
Working
on behalf of the Department of Banking and
Insurance, Division attorneys prosecuted
numerous civil insurance fraud cases in
2011 under the State’s Insurance Fraud
Prevention Act, obtaining orders for fines,
attorney’s fees and costs totaling
more than $4.4 million.
Another
significant Division of Law case in 2011
involved a settlement with three companies
the State alleged were responsible for discharging
chromium waste at more than 100 industrial
sites in Hudson County. Under a consent
order, the three companies must pay the
State $15 million to fund past site remediation
costs, and to complete work on contaminated
sites that have not yet been remediated.
Civil
Medicaid-fraud-related recoveries obtained
by attorneys with the Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor in 2011 included $3.46
million to the State as a result of New
Jersey’s participation in a national
settlement with a major pharmaceutical manufacturer.
The
settlement, reached through the National
Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units
– of which New Jersey is a member
-- resolved allegations that the pharmaceutical
manufacturer engaged in unfair and deceptive
business practices in manufacturing and
distributing certain lots of drugs.
New
Jersey also recovered $2.3 million in 2011
as a result of participation in a multi-state
settlement with another major pharmaceutical
corporation. The settlement resolved allegations
that the company illegally marketed an anti-epilepsy
drug for uses not approved by the federal
Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The
settlement also resolved allegations that
the company offered illegal kickbacks --
including speaking engagements with the
attendant perks of entertainment, travel
and meals -- to induce health care professionals
to promote and prescribe its drugs for off-label
uses.
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