Settlements involving consumer protection, Medicaid claims over illegal marketing of Depakote

SEATTLE – Working with other states, attorneys for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office have recovered more than $12 million through settlements with Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories, accused of illegally marketing an anti-seizure drug. The state will recover more than $10 million, split with the federal government, in a multi-state Medicaid fraud case against the company and more than $2 million from a consumer protection case.

Adscend Media LLC also pays $100,000 in attorneys’ fees to state

SEATTLE – The owners of a California-based online marketing company have agreed to stop spamming Facebook users. The details were revealed today in a settlement – a consent decree – between Adscend Media LLC and the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.

OLYMPIA…The Washington state Law Enforcement Medal of Honor/Peace Officers Memorial ceremony will be held in Olympia on Friday. 

Governor Chris Gregoire and Attorney General Rob McKenna will award law enforcement officers with Washington state’s highest law enforcement award: The Medal of Honor. The medal is given to officers who made the ultimate sacrifice or have displayed exceptionally meritorious conduct. 

The ceremony will also recognize three officers who died in the line of duty over the last year.

OLYMPIA – In a rare turn of events, the State Supreme Court today reversed a previous decision in a challenge filed by a pedophile against the state’s Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) law.

State Attorney General warns borrowers to avoid mortgage-related scams

UNIVERSITY PLACE –  About a year ago, Irene Failor was on a ladder repairing her roof. Looking down, she watched a man walk up and nail a foreclosure notice to her house. 

OLYMPIA…Washington State Senior Counsel Andy Fitz will appear tomorrow before the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia as lead counsel for several jurisdictions urging the court to force a federal regulatory agency to move forward in the licensing process, issue a decision within 14 months and break the logjam preventing completion of a national repository for America’s high-level treated nuclear waste.

NASCAR Driver and NW Native Kasey Kahne featured in new PSA on first annual “Stop the Texts Day”
 
SEATTLE – A shocking number of young drivers – who are already more accident-prone than older drivers –“text while driving.” As president of the National Association of Attorneys General, Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna is helping sound the alarm about the dangerous practice.

OLYMPIA – Richard (Rick) Weber and Tienney Milnor will join the Attorney General’s Office to investigate and prosecute workers compensation fraud for the Department of Labor and Industries’ Fraud Investigations Program (L&I). Weber started today. Milnor joins him May 16.

“Having dedicated, experienced attorneys prosecuting cases of fraud is key to maintaining a record of success,” said Doric Olson, manager for the L&I Fraud Investigations Program. “My team looks forward to working with Rick and Tienney as we continue our fraud-fighting efforts.”

Arrest warrant issued for former medical equipment supplier believed to have left the country

OLYMPIA — A Thurston County Superior Court Judge Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for the owner of medical supply company accused of Medicaid fraud. The warrant was requested so that the defendant can be arrested should he return to the United States.

State Attorney General warns borrowers to avoid mortgage-related scams

VANCOUVER – “I just started to accept that I was going to lose the house I raised my kids in – that I thought I’d spend my final years in,” Vancouver’s Jim Fleming explains.