Just weeks after being found liable for violations of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”), Bank of America, Corp. (“BofA”) is again facing allegations of mortgage related fraud. This time the lawsuit asserts that BofA defrauded the federal government and multitudes of borrowers by gaming the Home Affordable Refinance Program (“HARP”). The Federal...
Fortune 500 Software Company to Pay $11 Million to Settle False Claims Act Case Today, CA Technologies, a Fortune 500 company, has agreed to resolve a False Claims Act Complaint for $11 million. The crux of the Complaint, alleges that CA Technologies knowingly double billed its government clients for software renewals on contracts from 2001...
In 2010, in an effort to weed out fraudulent financial misconduct, Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. A significant part of this reform package provided for the creation of Whistleblower Reward Program through both the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC Whistleblower Reward Program provides for the payment of an award...
CA Health System to Pay $46 Million to Resolve Whistleblower Suit Sutter Health, a Sacramento, CA-based health system, announced the resolution of a whistleblower lawsuit regarding unbundling and over-billing schemes for anesthesia services provided. The 2009 lawsuit was brought against Sutter by billing auditor, Rockville Recovery Associates. The commissioner joined suit in 2011. A trial...
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is one of just twenty-one states that have yet to enact a version of the False Claims Act (“FCA”), arguably the federal government’s most effective fraud fighting tool. Currently, twenty-nine states, the District of Columbia, and a number of the nation’s largest cities have enacted some adaptation of the landmark legislation. ...
U.S. Recovered Over $2 Billion from Health Care Fraud in 2012 Alone The premier whistleblower advocacy group, Taxpayers Against Fraud (“TAF”), recently released a report detailing that Whistleblower lawsuits brought under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act have generated over $3 billion in settlements and judgments in civil cases in 2012 alone. Cases involving pharmaceutical and...
Giant Hedge Fund Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading Facing charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), Major hedge fund, SAC Capital Advisors, announced its intent, this week, to plead guilty to allegations that the company profited handsomely from illegal insider trading. As part of the guilty plea SAC has agreed to pay $1.8...
New York False Claims Act Takes the Lead in the Fight Against Fraud New York is once again pushing the envelope with proposed amendments to the New York False Claims Act, N.Y. Fin. Law §§ 187 – 194 (“NYFCA”). Twenty-nine states, the District of Columbia, and a number of large U.S. cities have enacted their...
U.S. Department of Justice Scores Major Win Against Mortgage Fraud This week the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a significant victory in the fight against mortgage fraud. A federal jury in the Southern District of New York found Bank of America Corp. (“BofA”) and former Countrywide executive, Rebecca Mairone, liable for civil fraud after a...
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Looks to Gut The False Claims Act In a move that is anything but surprising, the nation’s largest and most powerful business lobby, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (the “Chamber”) issued a report on October 23, 2013 seeking to undermine the efficacy of the False Claims Act (“FCA”). The Chamber’s Institute...