On June 27, 2016, U.S. Attorney John Bales announced, that ten North Texas companies and individuals have agreed to pay the United States a total of $1.125 million to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations for causing false claims to be submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its component agency the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by former Yellow Cab employees who worked for its Medicaid services. The government provides transportation for Medicare and Medicaid patients if they cannot travel or have no access to transportation.
The former employees alleged that nearly every claim that Irving Holdings, related entities and employees submitted did not comply with Medicaid regulations. The former employees, Robert Spence, Mike Jones, and Cheryl Jones, were all fired by the company.
According to the lawsuit, the Medicaid drivers' employee manual listed a series of fines and punishments for drivers if they committed Medicaid fraud. One of them included a $50 for if drivers changed the price of trips in their records, even if Medicaid was being overcharged.
The settlement includes Irving Holdings, the parent company of Yellow Cab and six other affiliated companies and individuals:
- Irving Holdings, Inc. (together with its predecessor companies Big Tex Taxi Corporation, Terminal Taxi Corporation, Choice Cab, Inc., Yellow Checker Cab of Dallas, Inc., and Yellow Checker Cab of Fort Worth, Inc.)
- JetTaxi, Inc.
- Dallas Taxi, LLC
- US Cab, LLC
- Terminal Taxi Corporation of Irving
- Classic Shuttle Acquisition Corporation, Inc. d/b/a Go Yellow Checker Shuttle
- Dallas Car Leasing, LLC
- Jackie Bewley
- Jeffrey Finkel
- Elizabeth George
The three former employees will receive $202,500 from the settlement.
