Category: False Claims

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The False Claims Act is a powerful tool to protect and encourage whistleblowers to report any wrongdoings of a company or business. The False Claims Act (also known as the Lincoln law) was enacted back in the civil war, with the same purpose it has until this day: […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Whistleblowers are individuals or groups that report about possible wrongdoings of a particular organization or company. Often times, whistleblowing involves an employee reporting employer misconduct that is illegal, unethical, or against public policy. Approximately 1400 whistleblowers have filed qui tam lawsuits in the last two years, and have […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Before filing your 2015 tax returns, all taxpayers should prevent themselves from succumbing to fraudulent phone scams. There have been a number of cases where individuals have received calls from representatives claiming to be employees from the IRS (Internal Revenue Services) According to the TIGTA, (Treasury Inspector General […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The federal government received a settlement of $16.65 billion dollars from Bank of America in a recent whistleblower qui tam case that was brought by four whistleblowers under the Federal False Claims Act. Whistleblowers have been awarded a generous percentage of the Bank of America settlement by the […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER During the 2014 fiscal year, the government’s whistleblower program has been the most successful yet. According to the New York Times, the Justice Department recovered $5.69 billion for false claims per the False Claims Act in 2014. The two biggest settlements included recovery for faulty mortgages and Medicare […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) first initiated its whistleblower program back in 2010. It gave two key features to persuade whistleblowers to come forth: (1) monetary rewards for vital information and (2) anonymity for protection. Four years later, the Securities and Exchange Commission made good on their […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER In 2010, a whistleblower came forth with information showing Extendicare Health Services Inc., a nursing home chain, was defrauding Medicare and Medicaid by charging patients for below-average care. Now, the nursing home chain will be paying $38 million to settle the failure-of-care claims – the largest amount ever […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Two words: employer retaliation. Whistleblowers don’t normally report wrongdoing to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the attention.  In fact, whistleblowers report misconduct because they were retaliated against in some manner such as wrongful termination, leading them to seek outside help.  In […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Thanks to whistleblowers, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) can boast an increase in cases – over 686 cases in 2014 alone. This is a first since 2011.  In addition to the increase in numbers of whistleblower cases, the Securities Exchange Commission has had other notable marks: seven of […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER An individual living overseas has been awarded over $30 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for providing information on a difficult to detect ongoing fraud. This $30 million award is a record amount in US whistleblower awards. Whistleblowers are the keys to discovering fraud and misconduct […]