The DoD OIG newsletter summarizes the reports and investigations released by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General in the previous month and those we anticipate releasing in the coming month.

Publicly Released: May 27, 2022

The Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, requires the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) to prepare semiannual reports summarizing its activities for the preceding 6-month period. These semiannual reports are intended to keep the Secretary of Defense and Congress fully informed of significant findings, progress the DoD has made relating to those findings, and recommendations for improvement.

Publicly Released: May 17, 2022

This Lead Inspector General (Lead IG) report to the United States Congress is the 28^th quarterly report detailing Operation Freedom’s Sentinel (OFS) and the 2^nd report on Operation Enduring Sentinel (OES).  The report summarizes significant events involving OFS and OES, and describes completed, ongoing, and planned Lead IG and partner agency oversight work.  This report covers the period from January 1, 2022, through March 31, 2022.  

The DoD Hotline received a complaint against Mr. James M. Branham, former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH), on August 15, 2020. The complaint alleged that Mr. Branham sexually harassed subordinate female employees and reprised against a female employee because she rejected his sexual advances. The DoD Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) initiated an investigation into the allegations on November 10, 2020.

Publicly Released: June 10, 2022

Our objective was to determine whether the DoD obligated Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to grants and cooperative agreements for expenses incurred in preventing, preparing for, or responding to coronavirus disease–2019 (COVID 19).

We plan to begin the subject evaluation in June 2022. The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa, is maintaining and accounting for Army Prepositioned Equipment (APS-2) in storage areas, and planning for the repair, replenishment, and replacement of issued APS-2 equipment in response to Ukraine and in support of NATO defense forces. We may revise the objective as the evaluation proceeds, and we will also consider suggestions from management for additional or revised objectives.

A suburban Chicago diagnostics company that provides home sleep testing will pay $3.5 million to the CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago diagnostics company that provides home sleep testing will pay $3.5 million to the United States to settle a civil lawsuit accusing the company of defrauding Medicare and four other federal health care programs through kickbacks and unnecessary home sleep testing.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that Numet Machining Techniques, LLC (“Numet”), Numet Industries, Inc., KCO Numet, Inc., and Kidd & Company, LLC (collectively the “Numet Entities”), have entered into a civil settlement agreement with the United States and have paid $5,227,355.28 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act when Numet improperly obtained set-aside contracts reserved for small businesses that it was ineligible to receive.

The former Chief Executive Officer of Northwest Physicians Laboratory (NWPL) was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to two years in prison and $7.6 million in restitution for conspiracy to solicit kickbacks, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Jae Lee, 51, of Bellevue, Washington, served as the CEO of Northwest Physicians Laboratory (NWPL). Between 2013 and 2015, Lee conspired with others to get kickbacks from medical testing labs in exchange for government testing business referred to the labs. In pronouncing sentence, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour noted, the scheme was large and clearly illegal.