The settlement resolves the civil case entitled United States v. Jack Jacobo Michel, M.D., et al., which the government filed in 2004, alleging violations of the False Claims Act. The state of Florida joined the suit later that year.

The government alleged that in 1997, Larkin, then owned by Desnick, paid kickbacks to physicians in return for patient admissions. The United States contended that the primary recipient of the kickbacks was Jack Michel, who was paid for patient admissions to Larkin by himself and his brother, Dr. George Michel. Jack Michel purchased Larkin in 1998. In 2000, Desnick was a party to a $14 million settlement with the United States for a similar kickback scheme from 1992 to 2000 at another facility he owned, Doctors Hospital of Hyde Park in Chicago.

The United States also alleged in the Michel suit that from 1998 to 1999, Jack Michel, George Michel, Morris Esformes, Philip Esformes, Frank Palacios and Claudia Pace conspired to admit patients to Larkin for medically unnecessary treatment. The government asserted that some of these patients came from assisted living facilities owned and operated by Jack Michel, Morris Esformes and Philip Esformes.

"The Department of Justice is committed to vigorously litigating cases about conduct that undermines the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs," said Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General for the Department's Civil Division. "We will not tolerate health care providers who pay kickbacks or perform medically unnecessary treatments on elderly beneficiaries in order to generate Medicare and Medicaid payments."

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the Florida Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The case was handled by the Justice Department's Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida in Miami and the Office of the Attorney General of the state of Florida.

The report also showed racial disparities among prisoners that are similar among men and women inmates. Among male prisoners ages 25-29, 8.1 percent of black men are in prison, while 2.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.1 percent of white men are incarcerated. South Dakota accounted for the highest increase in inmate population with a rise of 11 percent, followed by Montana with 10.4 percent, and Kentucky with 7.9 percent. Georgia's prison population dropped the most with a decrease of 4.6 percent, followed by Maryland with a 2.4 percent drop, and Louisiana with a 2.3 percent decrease.

US District Judge Richard J. Leon ruled in Washington, DC, Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) must reinstate certain housing payments for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Leon granted the plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction against the payments stoppage, maintaining that FEMA had failed to provide evacuees with adequate explanations for their denials of housing assistance and their means of appeal under the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)  filed the lawsuit on behalf of displaced hurricane evacuees alleging violations of their due process rights.

FEMA responded Wednesday by defending its policies and saying it will consult with the US Department of Homeland Security and US Department of Justice to determine a formal response to the district court's ruling. FEMA still faces several other suits relating to its termination or withdrawal or housing benefits to Katrina victims.

WASHINGTON – Lynn Lakers, a Boulder City, Nev., tax-return preparer, has been permanently barred in connection with an alleged offshore-trust tax scam, the Justice Department announced today. It is alleged that Lakers, participating with three others, prepared false tax returns for phony trusts sold by her fellow defendants. She consented to the injunction order. According to the complaint, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that this tax fraud scheme resulted in at least $31 million in lost revenue to the federal Treasury.

The other two defendants who consented to a permanent injunction earlier this year are Daniel Young of Las Vegas, who allegedly created phony domestic and foreign trusts to move customers’ assets from the United States to offshore banks located in the West Indies, and Stephen Nestor of Boise, Idaho, a former IRS revenue officer who allegedly signed false tax returns on behalf of customers’ bogus trusts. The case remains pending against a fourth defendant, Reinhold Sommerstedt.

Judge Brian E. Sandoval of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada entered injunctions against Nestor and Young in May 2006 and against Lakers on Nov. 20th. The injunctions prevent the three individuals from promoting the alleged tax-fraud scheme or preparing tax returns based on it. They must also give the government a list of their customers’ names, addresses, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and Social Security numbers. Nestor and Young have already complied with this portion of the injunction order.

According to the government’s complaint, the scheme allegedly helped customers hide their income from the IRS in Caribbean bank accounts. The defendants’ customers allegedly used phony loans and gifts to repatriate their money while concealing it from the IRS. Customers allegedly paid as much as $14,500 to participate in the scheme.

North Korea will not unilaterally abandon its nuclear weapons programs, Kim Gye-gwan, Pyongyang’s nuclear envoy to the six-party talks, said on Thursday.
His remarks came right after he held a closed-door meeting with his South Korean counterpart Chun Yung-woo at a restaurant in Beijing, the first meeting of its kind in seven months.

"There are many commitments in the Sept. 19 joint statement and at this stage we will not unilaterally give up the nuclear program," he said.

Kim’s attitude is still stubborn, but it does not necessarily mean that the chance is slim for the six-party talks to be resumed, diplomatic sources in Beijing said.

They said Kim’s U.S. counterpart, Christopher Hill presented the North Koreans a "new message," which is believed to have reflected U.S. President George W. Bush’s hope to resolve the nuclear standoff soon.

"Kim needed to come back to Pyongyang to consult with the leadership there," a source said, implying that the talks in Beijing between North Korea and the United States was "not fruitless."

Hill said the North was considering the U.S. proposals, which he described as "ideas that are designed to make rapid progress (toward denuclearization)."

The American envoy said he was "hopeful" that the talks would resume in December. "We hope to hear back from the North Koreans soon," he added.

He said the main issue in Beijing this time was how to get the North Koreans to make some "tough decisions"  to move out of the nuclear business.

Kim told reporters after the meeting with Chun that North Korea is ready to implement the joint statement, which was adopted in September last year, saying the denuclearization is the last instruction of Kim Il-sung, the late founding leader of North Korea.

Kim also said more time is needed to pin down the resumption date.

Chun underlined that there is no difference between North Korea and the United States on the idea the denuclearization talks should be held soon. But the South Korean said detailed coordination is still necessary. He declined to go into detail.

All head delegates to the six-way talks, except the official from Russia, gathered in Beijing this week to hold a flurry of diplomatic action aimed at restarting the disarmament negotiations that have been in limbo over the past year.

Pyongyang boycotted the multilateral forum in November last year in protest at the U.S.-imposed restrictions on its overseas bank accounts, starting with a bank in Macau.

Hill insisted that North Korea must abandon its nuclear programs first to get the benefits promised in the joint statements, including the security guarantee and diplomatic normalization with the United States, according to wire news reports