Qui Tam

Do state false claims acts meet HHS OIG standards?

Posted on March 31, 2011
Under the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act states were given a financial incentive to enact false claims acts that targeted Medicaid fraud. If a state false claims act meets certain requirements, the state is entitled to a greater percentage of any recovery of fraudulently obtained Medicaid funds...

Two companies pay for overcharging government for phone systems

Posted on March 08, 2011
Two companies have paid over $16.5 million to resolve whistleblower allegations that they systematically overcharged the US government for desktop telephone services.Avaya Inc. paid over $13 million to resolve the fraud allegations brought by two former managers of the company that became aware of the illegal scheme...

Pharma company receives additional fines for myriad violations of law

Posted on March 08, 2011
Forest Pharmaceuticals has been ordered to pay a criminal fine of $150 million and forfeit assets of $14 million, resulting from their guilty plea last year.In November of 2010, the drug company admitted to obstructing justice, distributing an unapproved new drug in interstate commerce, and distributing a misbranded drug in interstate commerce...

Top threats of government fraud and waste identified

Posted on February 25, 2011
The Government Accountability Office has released its list of government agencies at the highest risk for fraud and other costly abuses. While some agencies have been removed from the list due to improvements, many more areas for potential taxpayer abuse have been identified...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

First Senate Judiciary Committee hearing of 112th Congress to focus on fraud enforcement

Posted on January 24, 2011
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), has announced his intention to focus on fraud enforcement in a hearing that will be held on January 26.The hearing, entitled ?Protecting American Taxpayers: Significant Accomplishments and Ongoing Challenges in the Fight Against Fraud,? will include testimony from two senior Department of Justice officials...

Whistleblower case alleges NYC overbilled Medicare by tens of millions of dollars

Posted on January 19, 2011
In an unfolding whistleblower case, the federal government has accused New York City of overbilling Medicaid by ?at least tens of millions of dollars.? The complaint alleges excessive and improper placement of Medicaid patients in a 24-hour home care program, often against the recommendation of medical professionals...

Government contractor to pay $6.25 million to settle False Claims Act violation

Posted on January 19, 2011
Fastenal Company, a national hardware distributor, has agreed to pay $6.25 million to settle allegations that it violated terms related to a contract with the US General Services Administration (GSA).Fastenal was awarded a Multiple Award Schedule (MSA) contract, allowing it to participate in a streamlined marketplace of government purchasers...

Medicare billing confidentiality allows huge fraud to persist

Posted on December 23, 2010
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal suggests that the confidentiality of doctors? Medicare billing practices has allowed for instances of enormous fraud and abuse to go unchecked. The article highlights a number of top billers of Medicare, many of whose opulent lifestyles have been substantially funded by fraudulently misallocated taxpayer dollars...

Another drug maker settles FCA suit

Posted on December 21, 2010
Dey, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, has become the fourth drug maker this month to settle allegations involving reporting false and inflated drug prices.Payment from the Medicare and Medicaid programs was based on the false inflated prices and, as a result, the government paid millions of claims for far greater amounts than it would have if Dey had reported truthful prices...

Drug companies pay millions to settle FCA suits

Posted on December 20, 2010
December has been a significant month in terms of False Claims Act recoveries from pharmaceutical companies.Three drug makers - Abbott Laboratories Inc., Roxane Laboratories Inc. and B. Braun Medical Inc. - agreed to pay $421 million to settle claims that they defrauded federal health care programs by inflating the price of their drugs...

Will Wall St. undermine SEC whistle-blower program?

Posted on December 16, 2010
Business lobbyists are working overtime to kill the new Securities and Exchange Commission whistle-blower program in a tried-and-true Washington way: Convince the agency to issue regulations that render the program ineffective. This warning comes in an article by attorneys Erika Kelton and Eric Havian, published in the Washington Post...

Drug companies pay billions to settle criminal and civil charges, report says

Posted on December 16, 2010
Does it seem as though every day there's another report of a drug company paying millions to settle allegations of off-label promotion, poor manufacturing practices or overcharging the government? It may not be your imagination.A report issued by Public Citizen's Health Resource Group documents the scope of payments by pharmaceutical companies to resolve such allegations...

Will GOP slow CFTC's efforts to transform derivatives market?

Posted on December 14, 2010
The Commodities Futures Trading Commission is facing a lot of hurdles, including a lack of resources. But it has been moving quickly to draft rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank law.That law gave the CFTC the bulk of authority for dealing with over-the-counter derivatives and expanded the agency's jurisdiction from the $40 trillion futures market to include the nearly $300 trillion swaps market...

WikiLeaks cable shows surprising new lows in big pharma behavior

Posted on December 13, 2010
If you thought the depths of pharma corruption bottomed out at marketing fraud, pricing fraud or scientific fraud, you'll be interested in this stunning revelation: Pfizer hired investigators to dig up dirt on Nigeria's then-attorney general in an effort to pressure him to drop a $6 billion lawsuit against the company for experimenting on Nigerian children, according to secret U...

SEC whistleblower office put on hold

Posted on December 04, 2010
A delay in funding for the Securities & Exchange Commission whistleblower program means that investors will continue to lose millions through undetected ponzi schemes and other securities fraud.Citing "budget uncertainty" the agency said that the functions the whistleblower office would have assumed will be temporarily assigned to existing staff within the Division of Enforcement...

Whistleblower program produces record recoveries in health care fraud

Posted on November 23, 2010
The Department of Justice has recovered a record $2.5 billion dollars this year in health fraud, largely resulting from the whistleblower program, which incentivizes employees with inside information on fraud to come forward to the government; in applicable cases, whistleblowers will receive a substantial reward...

Federal investigation confirms what already is clear: Markets aren?t transparent

Posted on November 22, 2010
A Wall Street Journal story about a major federal investigation into inside trading provides additional confirmation of what we have seen based on evidence provided by Wall Street insiders whom we represent in SEC whistleblower cases: The markets are not transparent, and those with access to non-public information often use that information for personal gain...

The SEC and CFTC to vastly expand whistleblower program

Posted on November 17, 2010
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are working to administer a new whistleblower rule that could provide lottery-sized payouts to informants that provide valuable information in a successful case of securities law violation...

British traders and investment bankers to have cell phones recorded

Posted on November 17, 2010
Effective next November, investment bankers and traders in Britain will have their cell phone conversations recorded by their employers, in a move by the Financial Services Authority to prevent and prosecute insider trading.Britain will be the first country in Europe to require the recording of conversations on business cell phones, although other countries have required that all conversations relevant to business be recorded...

Goldman managing director fired for internal violations

Posted on November 10, 2010
If all companies took such decisive action as Goldman Sachs did when it fired a top official for violating internal policies and procedures, they would have less to fear from whistleblowers.The Financial Times reported Nov. 10 that Goldman Sacks fired London-based Alexandre Harfouche, head of European block trading, for "failing to make proper disclosures to the bank?s compliance department," citing sources with familiarity to the matter...

SEC fund for whistleblowers totals over $450 million

Posted on November 09, 2010
The Securities and Exchange Commission has established a fund of over $450 million to pay whistleblowers whose information leads to the successful penalization or conviction of companies or individuals found guilty of securities fraud.The fund has been established in accordance with the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill enacted in July, which will also establish a new whistleblower office at the SEC...

Freight forwarding and oil service companies settle FCPA allegations for $236 million

Posted on November 09, 2010
Five oil and gas service companies and subsidiaries and a global freight forwarding company have agreed to settlement penalties totaling $236 million.These payments will resolve alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Allegations included the bribing of customs officials in more than 10 countries for such purposes as circumventing rules or illegally expediting or extending drilling contracts...

International Traffic in Arms Regulation whistleblower suit settles

Posted on November 08, 2010
The first False Claims Act suit alleging violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) has settled for $1 million.The FCA whistleblower suit alleged that Rocky Mountain Instrument caused defense contractor customers to illegally export technical data used to manufacture parts employed in military equipment that the contractors then sold to the Pentagon...

Record recovery in Iraq/Afghanistan reconstruction fraud

Posted on November 06, 2010
Louis Berger Group Inc., a New Jersey engineering consulting firm, will pay $69.3 million to resolve criminal and civil probes related to overbilling for reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan and other work.It is the largest recovery in a case involving war-zone contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq and was the result of a qui tam whistleblower lawsuit brought by Harold Salomon...

Commodities regulator poised to get tougher

Posted on November 05, 2010
The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has been dismissed as a lackadaisical regulator in the past, but it's getting more aggressive.Although the CFTC is smaller than the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), both in terms of the number of attorneys in its enforcement division (200 to the SEC's 1200+) and in the size of its targets, chairman Gary Gensler is flexing the agency's muscle...

Medicare claims database remains potential treasure trove for fraud investigators

Posted on October 27, 2010
Although the Medicare claims database is currently regarded as a ?gold mine? for medical fraud investigators, most of the data remains unavailable to the public. The database contains electronic records of bills paid by Medicare for medical procedures, and is one of the most telling sources of information regarding health care spending in America...

Health care providers must report and return overpayments, NY Medicaid IG says

Posted on October 25, 2010
Reporting and returning overpayments from government health care programs will be the most important Medicaid program integrity issue in 2011, according to New York State Medicaid Inspector General Jim SheehanSheehan told attendees at the Health Care Compliance Association's Physician Practice Compliance Conference that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) gives providers a maximum of 60 days after an overpayment is identified to report it, return it, and explain in writing the reason for the overpayment...

Kentucky hires independent watchdog to prevent and recoup Medicaid abuse

Posted on October 20, 2010
The state of Kentucky has entered into a 3-year contract with Ingenix, a company that will use algorithms and other mathematical formulas to detect fraud and abuse in medical claims from Kentucky Medicaid providers.A press release from Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear?s office reports that in addition to ?the latest computer technology available,? Ingenix will be ?conducting onsite audits, desk audits and pre-payment review,? and will additionally be charged with identifying areas for improvement in systems and process and suggesting measures to be taken...

More medical schools providing fraud and abuse instruction, OIG reports

Posted on October 19, 2010
A new report from the Dept. of Health & Human Service's Inspector General says that forty-four percent of medical schools are providing instruction to students on Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse laws.Current law doesn't require medical schools or hospitals offering physician residency or fellowship programs to provide instruction on compliance with Medicare and Medicaid laws aimed at preventing fraud and abuse, even though such fraud and abuse costs U...

Compensation and compliance ? a novel combination

Posted on October 19, 2010
Companies are finally starting to use compensation as a reward for compliance ? rather than as a reward for improving the bottom line at any cost. BP just announced that it will base fourth quarter bonuses this year on employee performance in terms of safety and risk management, according to the Financial Times...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.