ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The U.S. Senate recently approved the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act, which provides whistleblower protections and bounties to individuals who report motor vehicle defects. The bill was unanimously approved. The act, aimed at improving safety in the auto industry, incentivizes employees and contractors of automakers, parts suppliers, and […]

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 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 The recent Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) v. Stiefel case shows that private entities are subject to Securities & Exchange Commission enforcement, say California securities fraud lawyers. The Securities & Exchange Commission filed a complaint in October 11 against Stiefel Laboratories, and the Eleventh Circuit decision came down […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Supreme Court’s March 2014 decision in Lawson v. FMR LLC serves as a reminder that the SEC does exercise enforcement jurisdiction over private entities, say San Francisco securities fraud lawyers. In Lawson, the plaintiffs were former employees of private entities that provided investment, advisory, and other services […]