ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced a $600,000 reward for a whistleblower for the first time in a retaliation claim. The whistleblower, a former hedge-fund trader for Paradigm Capital Management, faced retaliation for reporting his concerns about conflicts of interest. The whistleblower received the maximum 30 percent […]

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 […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it will pay an unidentified whistleblower, a compliance officer, an award of about $1.5 million. This is the second whistleblower award given to an employee with internal audit or compliance responsibilities, after $300,000 was awarded to a compliance officer in […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Three former managers of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation have filed Federal, as well as Florida State, whistleblower claims under the federal False Claims Act and Florida False Claims Act. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the nation’s largest supplier of HIV/AIDS medical care, is charged with defrauding Federal healthcare programs […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The role of the whistleblower, usually a current or former employee who has witnessed unlawful behavior, is key in the fight against healthcare fraud, say California qui tam/false claims lawyers. The Whistleblower Act protects a whistleblower against retaliation. Under the False Claims Act, a whistleblower can file what […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER In the first-ever action against a company for stifling the whistleblower process, the Securities and Exchange Commission reached a settlement with Houston-based engineering and construction company KBR Inc. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that KBR Inc. used restrictive employee agreements to prevent whistleblowers from taking action. According […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Nineteen healthcare-related qui tam (false claims) cases were unsealed at the end of 2014. These cases were from federal district courts in 13 different states. Unsealed filings show that the government affirmatively declined intervention in 10 of those 19 recently unsealed cases. The government intervened in 3 of […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER A major federal contractor has been accused of forcing employees to sign confidentiality statements that violate the False Claims Act.  The whistleblower lawsuit was filed recently against Halliburton and its former subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root.  The complaint was filed with the Justice Department and the Securities and […]

A financial planner was terminated from his position after coming forward with concerns regarding possible securities law violations at his firm.  A judge has ruled that the whistleblower may proceed with a claim under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  The judge rejected the company’s contention that […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER United State Senator Ron Wyden is investigating the recent firing of a nuclear power plant whistleblower.  The whistleblower worked for UBS Corporation for more than 44 years.   He was employed at a nuclear facility on the west coast.  Senator Wyden wrote a letter to the Energy Secretary about […]