Federal Reports

This report communicates the results of the Fiscal Year 2020 Federal Trade Commission Office of Inspector General review of the FTC’s compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) (Public Law 116-117).

The OIG conducted a nationally representative survey to understand the ways the COVID-19 pandemic may have altered customer perceptions of the Postal Service and their habits around mail and other postal-related activities. The OIG found that Americans continued to hold favorable views of the Postal Service during the pandemic, underscoring the important role USPS plays for the nation. During the pandemic, the core ways customers interacted with the Postal Service were through mail receipt, post office visits, and delivery of online orders. Nearly 70 percent of survey respondents reported checking their mail every day. However, respondents sent mail and personal packages less frequently compared to the previous year. Ecommerce grew during the pandemic, with more online orders placed in 2020 than in previous years. Survey respondents expect some of this ecommerce growth to continue after the pandemic. The OIG survey results provide information on changes in customer behavior and expectations, and careful monitoring of emerging trends will allow the Postal Service to continue to prepare for new and growing demands moving forward.

Sidney Cobos, Allan Lummer, Farshad Sassounian and Ashkan Kohanpour, medical marketers based in Los Angeles, California, pleaded guilty in United States District Court, Central District of California, on April 9, 2021, to one count each of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. The four defendants will be sentenced at a future date.Our investigation found that they aided in the preparation and presentation of a false tax return to the Internal Revenue Service for Pharmacy Acquisition LLC. The defendants knew the tax return falsely claimed a deduction for expenses that were actually distributions made to them, as owners of Pharmacy Acquisition LLC. Further, our investigation found that Pharmacy Acquisition LLC provided medically unnecessary compounded drug prescriptions to Precise Compounding Pharmacy that were reimbursed by health care benefit programs, including Amtrak’s plan. As a result of the scheme, Amtrak’s insurance providers were fraudulently charged approximately $22,000.

This report contains information about recommendations from the OIG's audits, evaluations, reviews, and other reports that the OIG had not closed as of the specified date because it had not determined that the Department of Justice had fully implemented them. The list omits information that the Department of Justice determined to be limited official use or classified, and therefore unsuitable for public release.The status of each recommendation was accurate as of the specified date and is subject to change. Specifically, a recommendation identified as not closed as of the specified date may subsequently have been closed.