Midstate federal prosecutors collect nearly $15 million in fines, fees

The amount of money that federal prosecutors in Middle Georgia collected in fines, fees and settlements in fiscal 2015 skyrocketed, totalling more than the office collected in the past five years combined.

The collections team for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Georgia brought in more than $14.8 million in the year that ended Sept. 30, according to Department of Justice calculations. The Middle District, headquartered in Macon, runs from Georgia's southwest corner up through Macon and Athens to the South Carolina border.

Nationwide, federal prosecutors collected $23.1 billion, according to the Justice Department.

Locally, acting U.S. Attorney Pete Peterman said about $1 million of the office's nearly $15 million total is money related to criminal cases. The remainder is from civil cases.

The office has three units focused on collections -- one that handles financial litigation, another that pursues health care fraud cases and a third that seeks the forfeiture of assets used in crimes or property bought through criminal activity.

A September settlement with Columbus Regional Healthcare System and Dr. Andrew Pippas made up the bulk of the office's collections, with the hospital's $10.4 million initial payment, Peterman said.

In total, the hospital could eventually pay up to $30 million. Pippas also was ordered to pay $425,000.

Pippas and the hospital were accused of submitting claims seeking payment from federal health care programs that misrepresented services actually provided, according to a Justice Department release.

Pippas also was accused of violating the Stark Law, which prohibits doctors from referring Medicare and Medicaid patients, for some services, to facilities where the doctors have a financial relationship, according to federal court records.

The hospital allegedly paid Pippas an "excessive salary and directorship payments" between 2003 and 2013 in violation of the Stark Law, according to the release.

When recently resigned U.S. Attorney Michael Moore took office in 2010, the Middle District didn't have a vigorous health care fraud program, Peterman said.

"He was really interested in it, and he built up our program dramatically," he said.

During Moore's tenure, which ended Nov. 30, the team grew to include five lawyers who work on health care fraud cases part time.

The team is working on other cases that Peterman said he expects could "eclipse" the Columbus settlement.

The office's financial litigation unit is run much like a private sector collections practice, with attorneys filing liens and garnishing IRS refunds, wages and bank accounts, Peterman explained.

By far, the largest amount of outstanding money owed to the federal government in Middle Georgia is from criminal cases, amounting to about $39 million.

"The problem is you're trying to get blood out of a turnip," Peterman said, explaining that many people who go to prison do so without much in the way of assets.

Sometimes, prosecutors even have difficulty collecting the $50 or $100 fees levied for probation assessments.

"We end up having a huge balance that we carry that grows every year," Peterman said.

Totals for the third unit, the asset forfeiture unit, aren't included in the office's fiscal 2015 total, Peterman said.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398 or find her on Twitter@awomackmacon.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Midstate federal prosecutors collect nearly $15 million in fines, fees ."