Alleged attempts to thwart collection of $188M in civil judgments resulting from a civil False Claims Act case, has resulted in the indictment of Peter Rogan — former owner of Chicago’s Edgewater Hospital — and his attorney Frederick M. Cuppy, reports the FBI.   In 2002, the United States filed a civil False Claims Act suit against Rogan alleging that he “was responsible for Edgewater’s submission of millions of dollars of false claims for reimbursement under the Medicare and Medicaid programs” related to “payment of kickbacks for patient referrals and medically unnecessary hospital admissions, tests, and services.”  During the bench trial which occured in September of 2006, U.S. District Judge John Darrah found against Rogan an entered judgment for $64,259,032, and also determined by a civil standard  that Rogan had” testified falsely, destroyed documents and obstructed justice.”

Thereafter, the U.S. and other judgment creditors conducted intense post-trial litigation in an attempt to collect the money, but — according to the allegations in the recent indictment — Rogan and Cuppy and another attorney hid assets, lied in depositions, and gave false statements to federal judges in an attempt to avoid paying the False Claims Act and other judgments.  Rogan is currently in Canada where he is fighting an immigration denial by the Canadian government.  Both men are presumed innocent by the law and currently await a trial on the merits by a jury of their peers.