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 Lost to Medicaid Fraud and Misspending

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 Awaits Award in JP Morgan’s $614 Million Mortgage Fraud 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...

100 Dollar Bills representing settlement and False Claims Act

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...

Close up of Court, representing Expanded Whistleblower Program

DOJ Reaches False Claims Act Resolution With Defense Contractor

The U.S. Department of Justice recently partially unsealed a whistleblower’s false claims act case against Federal Cartridge Co., a subsidiary of Alliant Techsystems, Inc., alleging that approximately 30 to 40 percent of the lots of ammo provided by the company failed to pass government specifications but were still distributed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement field...

SEC Whistleblowers May Not Receive Jury Trial in Retaliation Cases

A recent decision in a Georgia federal court presents serious implications for SEC whistleblowers subject to retaliatory employment actions. In an apparent case of first impression, on Nov. 12, U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia rendered a decision holding an SEC whistleblower is not entitled...

Dollar banknote on white table, representing whistleblower amendments, insider trading, and whistleblower awards.

Caremark False Claims Act Case Settles for $4.25 Million

$4.25 Million for Caremark False Claims Act Case Yesterday the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced an agreement with Caremark, LLC to settle allegations filed that it defrauded the federal government and five states. Caremark, LLC is a pharmacy benefit management company (“PBM”), operated by CVS Caremark, Corp. a company which is no stranger to...

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