(AUGUSTA) Since 2014 the Attorney General?s Office recovered more than $26.2 million from 28 healthcare providers who billed MaineCare for goods and services they did not provide. In addition, the Attorney General?s Office obtained restitution of about $654,000 from 62 individual recipients in who defrauded various DHHS programs in 2014 and 2015. The Attorney General?s Office also brought criminal tax fraud cases that resulted in restitution of $1.5 million in the last two state fiscal years.

AUGUSTA ? Attorney General Janet T. Mills today announced a settlement requiring Volkswagen to pay more than $570 million to states for violating state laws prohibiting unfair or deceptive trade practices by marketing, selling and leasing diesel vehicles equipped with illegal and undisclosed defeat device software. The settlement also establishes an environmental mitigation fund of $2.7 billion.

AUGUSTA ? ?If I can?t have you, no one can? is not an idle threat. It is a sign of controlling and violent behavior that too often is the prelude to homicide. This is one of the observations of the Domestic Abuse Homicide Review Panel in its 11th biennial report entitled: On the Path to Prevention. The Panel?s report was released at a State House press conference Thursday which included Governor Paul R. LePage and Attorney General Janet T. Mills.

AUGUSTA ? Attorney General Janet T. Mills announced today that Maine has reached an agreement in principle to settle allegations against the drug-maker Wyeth, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer, Inc. The settlement will resolve allegations that Wyeth knowingly underpaid rebates owed under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program for the sales of Protonix Oral and Protonix IV between 2001 and 2006. Under the settlement Wyeth has agreed to pay $784.6 million to the United States and the States. Over $371 million of this amount will go to the Medicaid Program.

AUGUSTA, Me ? Attorney General Janet Mills announced today that Tracy Burke, 51, a Merchant Marine now living in Virginia, was sentenced to serve jail time on multiple counts of Intentional Income Tax Evasion, Failure to File Maine Income Tax Returns, and Failure to Pay Maine Income Tax for years 2008 through 2013. Burke evaded paying Maine income tax by pretending to be a New Hampshire resident, and later a Florida resident, while he was in fact residing in Maine. New Hampshire and Florida do not have a state income tax.

AUGUSTA Maine Attorney General Janet T. Mills announced that over 800 consumers who were customers of Festiva Development Group have been notified of the relief that Festiva is providing pursuant to a settlement reached by the parties through court-ordered mediation. The settlement resolves an action the Maine Attorney General's Office brought in November 2013 against six related Festiva companies based in North Carolina, their principals and the Festiva Adventure Club Members' Association.

AUGUSTA ? Maine Attorney General Janet T. Mills today announced that a final hiring decision has been made to complete the staff of Maine?s Unsolved Homicide Unit. Renee Ordway has been hired to serve as the Victim Advocate to work with the family members in these cases, making the unit fully staffed.

AUGUSTA - Attorney General Janet Mills announced today that Dennis L. Brown, Jr., age 32, of Princeton, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for violating Maine?s environmental laws. The Attorney General alleged that Brown, who served as the certified operator for the Passamaquoddy Tribal Government?s wastewater treatment plant in Indian Township, engaged in and directed the unlicensed discharge of untreated sewage from a malfunctioning pump station by dumping the raw concentrated sewage immediately behind a residential area over the course of several days in November 2014.

AUGUSTA ? Attorney General Janet Mills announced today that Christo Stratos, 69, of Wells, Maine, was sentenced to serve 8 months in jail after pleading guilty to multiple counts of: Theft by Misapplication of Sales Tax; Intentional Evasion of Sales Tax; and Failure to Truthfully Collect, Account, and Pay Over Sales Tax. Stratos committed the crimes in connection with his operation of the restaurant Christo?s Place in Sanford.

AUGUSTA ?Maine Attorney General Janet T. Mills and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner have released drug overdose statistics for the first nine months of 2015. The numbers paint a dire picture of Maine?s opioid crisis. From January through September of 2015, deaths attributable to drug overdoses stood at 174. The state is on pace to reach between 230 and 250 overdose deaths this year. In 2014, there were a record 208 overdose deaths.