Reports

Onsite surveys of nursing homes are a fundamental safeguard to ensure that nursing home residents are safe and receive high-quality care. In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, CMS directed State Survey Agencies (SSAs) to suspend standard onsite surveys and most onsite surveys for complaints. CMS directed SSAs to conduct onsite surveys in response to the most serious complaints (i.e., those involving immediate jeopardy) and complaints related to infection control, and to conduct targeted infection control surveys, which are abbreviated surveys focused on infection control policies and practices within facilities. Using recent complaint and survey data for all nursing homes, this study will examine the extent to which SSAs and CMS are conducting onsite surveys in nursing homes related to serious complaints and targeted infection control, in accord with CMS's recent guidance to suspend certain onsite surveys. We will also identify any barriers that CMS and SSAs face in conducting onsite surveys, as well as potential solutions.

A software engineer was charged in a complaint unsealed today for allegedly filing fraudulent bank loan applications seeking more than $1 million in forgivable loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The recently ousted head of Aviron Pictures was arrested this morning on federal fraud charges that allege he applied for $1.7 million in loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), falsely certified that the money would be used to finance the operations of other Aviron entities, and then used some of the relief funds for his personal expenses.

A California man has been charged with allegedly filing bank loan applications fraudulently seeking more than $1.7 million dollars in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Last week, two federal grand juries in the District of Puerto Rico returned 14 indictments charging 21 defendants during the first week that the United States District Court in Puerto Rico reconvened grand jury proceedings after implementation of health and safety precautions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, announced W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. The indictments include charges of firearms violations, drug trafficking, sexual exploitation of minors, cash smuggling, assault on a federal employee, and illegal reentry. The...

The Department of Justice today filed a statement of interest in an Illinois federal court in support of a lawsuit filed by Illinois state representative Darren Bailey challenging certain actions of Governor J.B. Pritzker in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

United States Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger today announced that various jurisdictions across the Eastern District of Virginia have recently been awarded over $972,500 in Department of Justice grants to respond to the public safety challenges posed by the outbreak of COVID-19.

United States Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger and Assistant Attorney General Eric S. Dreiband of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division today announced an update on the status of the Department of Justice’s efforts to protect religious liberties during the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting a lawsuit brought in federal district court by Lighthouse Fellowship Church, a congregation in Chincoteague Island, Virginia that serves, among others, recovering drug addicts and former prostitutes.

U.S. Attorney Bill Powell of the Northern District of West Virginia today announced that the city of Morgantown received $44,250 in Department of Justice grants to respond to the public safety challenges posed by the outbreak of COVID-19.