Whistleblower News From The Inside — December 21, 2015

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

Theranos faces investigations by CMS and FDA. Former employees have filed complaints with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Food & Drug Administration. The complaints allege continued use of devices despite indications of major problems and submission of faulty studies. WSJ

J.P. Morgan’s conflicts of interest – again. In addition to the CFTC penalty reported here on Friday, J.P. Morgan faces $267 million in disgorgement and penalties imposed by the SEC.  An SEC investigation found that the firm did not disclose to clients that it was preferentially steering them to its own proprietary investment funds. SEC

Whistleblower who reported failings  in federal security clearance system receives reward.  Over four years after Blake Percival discovered that USIS failed to perform hundreds of thousands of background checks for security clearances, he received a whistleblower reward of $6 million. USIS, at one time the largest private contractor performing security-clearance background checks for the federal government, settled the suit for $30 million in August of this year. WP

NY nursing home settles allegations it delayed patient discharges for financial reasons. Elant, a New York State nursing home chain, will pay $600,000 to resolve claims it postponed the discharges of short-term patients, who were clinically ready to leave, against the wishes or without the informed consent of the patients. The company admitted that the practice was primarily directed at patients with Medicare or Medicaid coverage. NY AG

DOJ Swiss Bank Program – two more banks resolve potential criminal liabilities. Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) and a subsidiary have agreed to pay the US government $45 million to resolve potential criminal liability.  The Swiss Bank Program requires participating banks to disclose cross-border activities, provide information on the accounts of US taxpayers, provide information on other banks, close the accounts of clients who don’t comply with US reporting obligations, and pay penalties. DOJ

FIFA probe – US requests freezing of Swiss accounts. Blatter and Platini barred from soccer. The former president of FIFA and the head of the European arm face eight year bans, as the investigation into corruption continues. BBC The US is looking at accounts linked to their own probe of FIFA. WSJ