ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Microcaptive Insurance Tax Abusers Corporations Use Small Captive Insurance Companies To Avoid Tax The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has begun sending letters to up to 200 companies, offering to settle open investigations of abusive insurance transactions with the companies’ own small, insurance subsidiaries (known as “microcaptives”). These companies […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Securities and Exchange Commission paid out $3 million to a whistleblower who helped the commission crack a complex fraud case. The whistleblower, a company insider, received the third-highest award given by the SEC whistleblower program thus far. The whistleblower’s tip led to related actions, and gave very […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Internal Revenue Service recently released their 2014 annual report to Congress on its whistleblower program. Although awards paid by the IRS whistleblower program decreased in 2014, the agency expects to pay out more in 2015. According to the report, the IRS whistleblower program paid out 101 awards […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Fraud investigation and enforcement activity against healthcare providers has been increasing, as the government uses the False Claims Act to pursue whistleblowers’ claims of fraud and abuse. This has been particularly evident with long-term care providers. The False Claims Act, sometimes referred to as the Lincoln Law, was […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Since the inception of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program when the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law in 2010, the SEC has done what it takes to make the program successful. In addition to awarding payments of over $50 million […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Supreme Court’s opinion in Kellogg, Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. United States ex. Rel. Carter has mixed implications for both relators and the defense side. The court’s ruling on the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act (WSLA) and the “first to file” provision of the False Claims Act […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The SEC Award program was created by the Dodd-Frank Act. This provides an incentive for people to give any information which would let the SEC take sanctions in an amount over $1 million. A whistleblower who finds himself in this case could earn 10% or 30 % of […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER DaVita HealthCare Partners, a Denver-based company, has agreed to pay up to $495 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit accusing the company of defrauding the federal Medicare program. This is the third settlement of a whistleblower lawsuit by DaVita since 2012. Dr. Alon J. Vainer and nurse Daniel […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Department of Justice is investigating Medicare risk scores, as whistleblower lawsuits alleging billing abuses in privately run Medicare plans have recently increased. At least half a dozen of these lawsuits have been filed under the False Claims Act since 2010, including two that recently surfaced. Medicare Advantage […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Department of Justice announced new settlements under the False Claims Act, one of which affects Alameda, CA laboratory Singulex Inc, say Alameda County qui tam attorneys. Singulex, along with Health Diagnostics Laboratory of Richmond, VA, agreed to pay $48.5 million to settle charges that they violated the […]