July 1, 2025
Whistleblower in False Claims Act case alleged nursing homes were severely understaffed and provided grossly substandard care to residents, and submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid
DETROIT – The United States government and the State of Michigan have reached a $4.5 million settlement with Villa Financial Services LLC (“VFS”), Villa Olympia Investment LLC (“VOI”) and six Villa nursing homes they owned and operated throughout the greater Detroit area to resolve a legal action alleging violations of the False Claims Act filed by a whistleblower.
The Villa nursing homes owned and operated by VFS and VOI include The Ambassador, Father Murray, Imperial, Regency, St. Joseph’s and Westland. The whistleblower alleged that VFS and VOI and the nursing homes defrauded the Medicare and Medicaid programs by not providing the level and quality of care that the government healthcare programs require and pay for.
“We commend our clients for blowing the whistle and bringing this lawsuit on behalf of the government to redress the severe understaffing and grossly substandard care that they allege pervaded the Villa nursing homes,” said Casey Preston, co-counsel for the whistleblower and member of Cohen Milstein’s Whistleblower Practice. “This settlement illustrates the positive impact whistleblowers can achieve when they step forward and report conduct by nursing homes that deprives vulnerable residents of appropriate care and cheats government programs like Medicare or Medicaid.”
The whistleblower in the case is Detroit Integrity Partners, which brought claims under the False Claims Act and Michigan Medicaid False Claim Act.
The nursing home residents included elderly, disabled, and bedridden individuals who require basic care to carry out their daily functions and maintain their physical, mental, and psychological well-being. Detroit Integrity Partners alleged that from July 1, 2018 through January 31, 2021, the defendants (i) failed to provide a sufficient number of appropriately trained staff to adequately care for the residents, (ii) failed to take adequate measures to prevent, control, and provide care related to infections, such as pneumonia, sepsis, urinary tract infections, and wound infections, (iii) failed to take adequate measures to prevent and follow appropriate protocols related to resident falls, (iv) failed to appropriately provide for residents’ activities of daily living, including residents’ toileting needs, and (v) failed to follow appropriate protocols for the treatment of pressure ulcers – all in violation of federal and state law.
Detroit Integrity Partners alleged that by knowingly and systematically failing to provide these services and/or providing them in a materially and grossly substandard way, defendants violated Medicare’s and Medicaid’s requirements. Detroit Integrity Partners alleged that, as a result, the bills the defendants submitted to Medicare and Medicaid for the care and services they provided to the residents were materially false in violation of the federal False Claims Act and the Michigan Medicaid False Claim Act.
Detroit Integrity Partners filed its qui tam action on October 16, 2019 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, captioned United States and the State of Michigan ex rel. Detroit Integrity Partners v. Detroit Nursing Center, LLC, et al., Case No. 3:19-cv-13046-MAG-RSW.
The federal government filed its notice of intervention in the whistleblower’s action on June 17, 2024.
In settling, the defendants did not admit liability.
The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr., highlighted the Villa nursing home settlement in a June 30, 2025 announcement of criminal charges and civil resolutions in multiple health care fraud enforcement actions.
The federal False Claims Act and its state law equivalents permit private citizens to bring lawsuits on behalf of the government against persons who present false or fraudulent claims for payment under government contracts or programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE. Whistleblowers are entitled to receive a portion of the proceeds of any settlement or judgment awarded against a defendant.
Detroit Integrity Partners is represented by national plaintiffs’ law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC and Michigan-based law firm Hertz Schram PC.
About Cohen Milstein
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