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False Claims Act - Qui Tam

Current developments in whistleblower lawsuits brought under the False Claims Act, a law designed to combat fraud against the government.
By Phillips & Cohen LLP

Post Frequency: 2/day

Last Entry: April 24, 2013 at 09:32:00

Review of Barclays fails to recognize role whistleblowers can play in compliance

Posted on April 24, 2013
A recent independent report on British bank Barclays corporate culture, known as the Salz Review, addresses the impact some employees? conduct has had on the bank?s reputation. It does not, however, go far enough in proposing steps to encourage and protect whistleblowers as a way to prevent future misconduct...

Texas reaps rewards of whistleblower cases

Posted on March 27, 2013
A new report issued by the Taxpayers Against FraudEducation Fund highlights the substantial benefits states realize from adopting false claims laws. Fighting MedicaidFraud in Texas, authored by economists Jack Meyer and Chris Wolff of Health Management Associates, examines the recoveries made in the past six years under the Texas False Claims Act (formerly the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act)...

P&C attorney discusses Calif. AG's strategy in charging S&P with False Claims Act violations

Posted on February 12, 2013
The U.S. Dept. of Justice and more than a dozen states have filed suit against Standard & Poor's, alleging that the firm's inflation of mortgage investments cost investors billions when the financial crisis struck.DOJ's complaint alleges violations of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA)...

Whistleblower attorney finds tone at top of SEC and CFTC encouraging for whistleblowers

Posted on February 05, 2013
The whistleblower programs at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are working ?incredibly well,? according to Phillips and Cohen partner Erika Kelton. In an interview with Corporate Crime Reporter published this week, Kelton said it was encouraging that the first SEC whistleblower settlement was made within a year of when the SEC whistleblower office was set up and that the SEC awarded the maximum reward (30 percent) to the whistleblower...

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Payments to settle fraud charges shouldn?t be tax deductible

Posted on January 17, 2013
Several banks that recently settled cases for mortgage abuses will be able to deduct those settlement payments as ?business expenses,? making those settlements less painful for the banks than they appear, noted New York Times? columnist Gretchen Morgenson in her Jan...

Whistleblowers help government recover record $5 billion in FY2012

Posted on December 04, 2012
The government recovered a record-breaking $5 billion in FY 2012 under the False Claims Acts, a top Justice Department official announced today.Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart Delery noted that the False Claims Act ?not only protects the Treasury, but also reflects a deep commitment to protecting the health and safety of all Americans and bringing about meaningful change to eliminate cheating from business practices...

Six banks have paid $162 million to settle whistleblower lawsuit alleging hidden fees charged on veterans? loans

Posted on November 20, 2012
Five more banks and mortgage companies have agreed to pay the federal government a total of $116.7 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that alleged the banks illegally charged veterans hidden fees on refinanced home loans backed by the Veterans Administration...

SEC received 3,000 whistleblower tips in the past year.

Posted on November 16, 2012
In the past year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received over 3,000 whistleblower tips, according to the SEC?s 2012 ?Annual Report on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program? released this week. That is an astonishing number of tips and shows how successful the two-year-old SEC whistleblower program is...

Rewards to offset the risks of blowing the whistle

Posted on September 25, 2012
Despite the draw of large whistleblower rewards distributed by the government recently, like the $104 million awarded to Brad Birkenfeld for exposing secrets about Swiss banking to the IRS, a recent New York Times article warns potential whistleblowers to seriously consider the burdens that accompany blowing the whistle before they proceed...

Sodexo settlement paved the way for Compass Group USA's $18 million settlement

Posted on September 21, 2012
Foodservice management company Compass Group USA has paid $18 million to the state of New York to settle charges that it cheated New York schools for more than seven years by pocketing rebates from food vendors rather than passing those credits on to New York schools...

Erika Kelton named "Whistleblower Lawyer of the Year"

Posted on September 20, 2012
Whistleblower attorney Erika Kelton, of Phillips & Cohen LLP, was named the 2012 ?Whistleblower Lawyer of the Year? by a leading national whistleblower organization last week. Kelton was awarded the honor by Taxpayers Against Fraud (TAF) for representing two whistleblowers in a qui tam lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline, a case that contributed significantly to GlaxoSmithKline?s record-setting $3 billion settlement with the U...

Retaliation against whistleblowers rising

Posted on September 06, 2012
Retaliation against whistleblowers is on the rise, according to a report by the Ethics Resource Center. ?Retaliation: When Whistleblowers Become Victims? notes dramatic increases in various forms of reprisal against those who report unethical behavior, including physical violence, job retaliation and assaults on whistleblowers? physical property...

SEC's new whistleblower program gets big response

Posted on August 23, 2012
Since Congress created a strong whistleblower program at the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Dodd-Frank Act in July of 2010, tips have been pouring into the SEC in record numbers, according to an article in yesterday's LA Times...

Affordable Care Act boosts fight against health care fraud

Posted on August 22, 2012
NPR reported this yesterday morning on the ways the Affordable Care Act helps fight health care fraud. The story noted the difficulty government regulators have in keeping up with the various health care scams that crop up continuously, describing efforts as a "an endless game of Whack-a-Mole...

SEC grants maximum award to whistleblower

Posted on August 22, 2012
The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday granted the first whistleblower award under the new program created by the Dodd-Frank Act. The reward totaled $50,000, or 30 percent of the SEC's current recoveries from the case, which is the maximum percentage allowed under the program...

SEC announces first whistleblower award

Posted on August 21, 2012
The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission has made its first whistleblower award. The SEC Whistleblower Office was established in August 2011, pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act.According to the SEC the whistleblower, who did not wish to be identified, will receive nearly $50,000, thirty percent of the amount collected from the perpetrators of a multi-million dollar fraud scheme...

Obama administration introduces new efforts to crack down on health care fraud

Posted on July 29, 2012
The Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Attorney General Eric Holder, revealed a new public-private partnership to crack down on health care fraud yesterday. The partnership will include insurance industry giants like United Health Group, Amerigroup Corporation and Blue Cross Blue Shield, as well as the industry lobby, American's Health Insurance Plans, government law enforcement agencies, the Department of Justice, and state and private fraud control units...

Treasury Secretary Geithner testifies about Libor scandal

Posted on July 26, 2012
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner defended his response to concerns about Libor manipulation in 2008 - when he served as president of the New York Federal Reserve - before Congress yesterday. When asked what action was taken after receiving information about possible rate-rigging in 2008, Geithner said:"...

Is there more corporate fraud, or is there more fraud being exposed by whistleblowers?

Posted on July 26, 2012
Eduardo Porter of the New York Times wrote an insightful article examining whether corporate corruption and fraud have increased in recent years. (See ?The Spreading Scourge of Corporate Corruption.?)Possibly what has changed is that there simply is more wrongdoing being exposed because more whistleblowers are coming forward, encouraged by the False Claims Act and whistleblower reward programs at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Internal Revenue Service and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission...

Whistleblowers played key role in Glaxo's $3 billion settlement

Posted on July 03, 2012
Two whistleblowers represented by Phillips & Cohen provided critical evidence that helped launched massive government investigations into Glaxosmithkline's marketing practices, and resulted in the record $3 billion settlement yesterday. Glaxo paid $1...

CFTC announces $14 million penalty in oil manipulation case

Posted on April 23, 2012
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has announced that Optiver Holding BV, a Dutch company, two U.S. subsidiaries and several officers will pay $14 million to settle allegations of manipulating the oil market.The CFTC's complaint had charged Optiver with engaging in a practice called "banging the close": attempting to manipulate the price of futures contracts by taking large positions just ahead of the close of trading...

Washington state now has a Medicaid false claims act

Posted on April 02, 2012
Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire has signed a Medicaid fraud false claims act.The act includes a qui tam provision, which will allow private citizens who discover fraud involving the state's heath care services to bring suit on behalf of the government...

Are we teaching that fraud pays?

Posted on April 02, 2012
In a recent Forbes blog post, Phillips & Cohen attorney Erika Kelton tells of students who did an off-the-cuff cost/benefit analysis of Medicaid fraud and decided it might be a good way to get rich quick.Deterring corporate fraud can be particularly challenging...

Phillips & Cohen lawyer offers seven tips for successful whistleblower program

Posted on March 22, 2012
Mandatory percentage awards, protection of whistleblowers' identities, and encouragement of reporting through internal compliance programs are among the elements of a successful whistleblower program according to Phillips & Cohen attorney Erika Kelton...

NY State goes easy on Medicaid audits in response to industry pressure

Posted on March 22, 2012
New York State had been off to a good start in cracking down on health care fraud. The New York Times reports that efforts under former Gov. George Pataki resulted in $1.5 billion in overpayments being recovered in 4 years and other states rushed to emulate New York...

Health care compliance educational resources from OIG

Posted on March 06, 2012
The Dept. of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General has developed a Compliance 101 page to help health care providers, practitioners, and suppliers understand the health care fraud and abuse laws and the consequences of violating them...

Happy 25th Birthday, False Claims Act!

Posted on January 31, 2012
Although it attracted little fanfare when it was passed 25 years ago, the False Claims Act has proven to be a successful weapon in fighting fraud against the government.The Dept. of Justice will host an event featuring key players in the law's passage, including Senators Charles Grassley and Patrick Leahy and Rep...

Proposed legislation would gut SEC whistleblower program

Posted on January 24, 2012
A recently introduced House bill has the potential to seriously undermine the effectiveness of the Security & Exchange Commission's new whistleblower program, according to attorneys at Phillips & Cohen LLP, a law firm that has represented whistleblowers for nearly 25 years...

HHS Inspector General posts training videos

Posted on January 03, 2012
As part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Provider Compliance Training initiative, the Health & Human Services' Inspector General has posted explanatory videos. Videos on the False Claims Act, the Physician Self-Referral Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute are already available...

2012: Year of the Whistleblower

Posted on December 28, 2011
Top Five Predictions For Whistleblower Programs; Blockbuster Year Expected Despite Intense Corporate OppositionWASHINGTON, DC, Dec. 28, 2011 -- The increased reach of U.S. whistleblower laws and a growing interest overseas in whistleblower programs will make 2012 the Year of the Whistleblower, predicts Phillips & Cohen LLP, a law firm that has specialized in representing whistleblowers for nearly 25 years...

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