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U.S. Businesses Combat Fraud Through Internal Initiatives

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...

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

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...

100 Us Dollar Banknotes, representing False Claims Act

Blockbuster Year Predicted for the FCPA in 2014

Less than two months in to the new year, individuals are already predicting a massive year for prosecutions and settlements in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases, according to the South China Morning Post. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was passed in 1977 to halt bribery of foreign officials by United States companies. It also requires public companies to...

Rusty Plant where government contractors work

Workplace Misconduct Falls to Historic Low

A biennial survey of workers at for-profit companies declared victory for ethics and compliance programs in 2013. Whistleblowers, however, still face retaliation at alarming levels when they report issues. According to the Ethics Resource Center, workplace misconduct has steadily and significantly dropped since 2007 when it hit an all time high. Reports of corporate misconduct...

False Claims Act Case Over Customs Duties Near Settlement

When the Department of Justice reported its Fiscal Year 2013 results, it put the use of the False Claims Act to fight health care fraud front and center. Whistleblowers are not limited to bringing lawsuits against hospitals and drug companies, however. The False Claims Act applies broadly to fraud against the government. A number of...

Red White and Yellow Medication Pills, representing addiction treatment

New York Recovers $851 Million in Medicaid Fraud Case

New York, home to one of the nation’s largest Medicaid programs, recovered $851 million in taxpayer funds in 2013. The amount nearly doubled New York’s previous record recovery, $468 million in 2012. The money recovered accounted for dollars lost by the program due to fraud, waste or other misspending. The state did not specifically identify...

Accounting pages and a coffee mug, representing internal and external audits

A Growing Problem in Tax Fraud: Identity Theft

There is a new target for identity thieves: the Federal Government. The thieves are using personal information to file a fraudulent tax return with the IRS on behalf of the identity theft victim. If the IRS doesn’t recognize the fraudulent return, it may refund money to the identity thieves and label the taxpayer’s return a...

Whistleblower Set to Receive Award in JP Morgan Settlement

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) unsealed a whistleblower lawsuit against financial services firm JPMorgan this week. The qui tam lawsuit, originally filed in January 2013 by Keith Edwards of Louisiana, accused JPMorgan of violations of the False Claim Act for mortgage fraud. In the settlement, JPMorgan acknowledged its wrongdoing...

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Judge Says $1 Million Fine Too Low for Countrywide Mortgage Fraud

A federal judge has signaled that $1 million is too low of a penalty for those responsible for the Countrywide mortgage fraud debacle. At a hearing last week in a Manhattan federal court, Judge Jed S. Rakoff, declared that such a penalty would be a “windfall” for Bank of America, Corp., (“BofA”) the entity legally responsible for...

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