Fraud and Whistleblower News for Monday, March 31

The Supreme Court denied the cert petition in Nathan v. Takeda today. The petition questioned the Court of Appeals decision with regard to the Rule 9(b) heightened pleading requirement for fraud. False Claims Act Against Bankrupt Companies – WSJ:Judge Gives $2.3 Billion Hawker Whistleblower Suit New Life Whistleblowers can pursue their False Claims Act lawsuit against Hawker...

Orange and White Prescription Bottle On Table, suggesting the opioid epidemic

Government Receives $300 Million in Three Health Care Fraud Settlements

There have been a few notable settlements under the False Claims Act in the last month for those tracking fraud in the health care industry. Through the three lawsuits, the government has recovered more than $300 million. Teva Pharmaceuticals and a subsidiary agreed to pay $27.6 million to resolve allegations it paid a Chicago doctor to switch...

Consumers Report $1.6 Billion in Fraud to the FTC

It has been the third snowiest winter in history here in Philadelphia. So we are looking forward to spring and warmer weather. Last week in the office, we joked about how governments were spending so much money on snow this winter, someone might come forward to report some of it lost due to fraud. No...

Courthouse with columns, representing Department of Justice (DOJ) and SEC Enforcement

Supreme Court Extends SOX Whistleblower Protections to Employees of Contractors

The Supreme Court issued a win for whistleblowers yesterday. In Lawson v. FMR LLC, 571 U.S. ____, slip op. (March 4, 2014), the Court held that the employees of privately held contractors and subcontractors reporting on a public company are protected by the whistleblower provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. At issue was 18 U.S.C. § 1514A,...

Tax Court Rules Whistleblower Reward is Ordinary Income

Despite arguments from whistleblowers to the contrary, the government continues to demand whistleblowers pay taxes on money awarded under the False Claims Act as ordinary income. On Monday, the United States Tax Court held in Patrick v. Commissioner, 142 T.C. No. 5 (2014) that a qui tam award does not qualify as capital gains. If the petitioner had been successful, tax...

100 Us Dollar Banknotes, representing False Claims Act

SEC Priorities for 2014 Include Reverse Churning and IRA Rollovers

The SEC released its annual Examination Priorities for the new year in January. Among the list are two practices which may steer investors to accounts with higher fees than are warranted by their investment goals and situation. Specifically, the SEC expressed concern that investors may be overpaying in fee-based accounts and IRA rollovers when lower cost options...

Tax Documents on the Table, representing tax inversions

The Top 12 Tax Scams in 2014

The IRS just released its annual list of the Dirty Dozen tax scams to watch out for this year. The list identifies fraud the IRS sees against both the government and taxpayers. Here is the list: 1. Identity Theft Identity theft topped the list of tax schemes again in 2014. It made its first appearance...

Crop anonymous patriot showing flag of United Stated of America

U.S. Businesses Discover Less Fraud Through Internal Efforts

Corporations have put millions of dollars into compliance programs in order to detect fraud and employee misconduct internally. A new survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers, however, provides some statistics calling into question the results of those efforts. U.S. organizations learned of 32 percent of fraud by external measures or accident in the past two years, according to the...

Lesson From Fifth Circuit: Don’t Delay Filing Your False Claims Act Lawsuit

It may be tempting to report misconduct to the government outside of the formal procedures provided by whistleblower laws. It would be comparatively easy for a whistleblower to send the government a fraud report through a letter, email or hotline without legal representation as soon as they discover it. Two whistleblowers were unfortunately denied a share...

Close-up of a slide under a microscope, symbolizing medicare fraud

FDA Examines Drug Quality from Overseas Facilities.

The United States Food and Drug Administration has stepped up enforcement efforts against overseas exporters of drugs to the U.S. in light of recent reports of drug quality and manufacturing issues. Facilities in India, the second largest exporter of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, have been under especially heavy scrutiny. Last year, Ranbaxy Laboratories paid $500...

Category: News