Whistleblower News From The Inside -- July 30, 2015
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
It’s National Whistleblower Day! — On this day in 1778, the Continental Congress enacted the first whistleblower law. Just days ago, the Senate passed a resolution urging federal agencies to celebrate whistleblowers. And today, Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Wyden—who head the Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus—along with Senators Ron Johnson, Tammy Baldwin, Thom Tillis, Mark Kirk, and Tom Carper, will fete whistleblowers and their allies at the first-ever National Whistleblower Day Lunch on Capitol Hill. Huffington Post, Washington Times, and Minnesota Post
Medicare and Medicaid turn 50 today — On this day in 1965, President Johnson signed into law legislation that established the Medicare and Medicaid programs. For 50 years, these programs have protected the health and well-being of millions of Americans, saved lives, and improved our economic security. But a new report from says Medicare is losing an estimated $60 billion a year to fraud, waste, abuse. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, ABC News, and Government Accountability Office
VA whistleblower on reporting wrongdoing: ‘Prepare for hell’ — More than a year into a nationwide crisis in veterans health care, several government whistleblowers who exposed deadly faults in the Veterans Administration addressed the annual Whistle Blower Summit, telling potential whistleblowers how to tell the truth while protecting themselves from retaliation. Stars and Stripes
Feds Get New Help From GAO To Fight Fraud — Officials at the Government Accountability Office have a new tool to help federal agencies protect hundreds of billions of tax dollars from being lost to fraud. The Daily Caller and Government Accountability Office
South Florida is the organized fraud capital of America — Over the past decade or so, the three most populous South Florida counties — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach — have become less renowned for old-school “Miami Vice”-style drug shootouts than for scammers stealing hundreds of millions from the government, banks and individuals by using laptops, stolen identities and fake medical procedures. New York Post
Congressman Chaka Fattah charged in racketeering conspiracy — Congressman Fattah (D-PA) and four of his associates were indicted today for their roles in a racketeering conspiracy involving several schemes intended to further their political and financial interests by, among other tactics, misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars of federal, charitable and campaign funds. Department of Justice
SEC nears record-setting $20m settlement in “dark pool” investigation — Dark pool operator Investment Technology Group Inc. disclosed Wednesday that it will likely pay $20 million to settle SEC allegations that a unit ran an experimental trading program in the dark pool that violated customer information disclosure rules. The SEC’s investigation focused on a test program run from 2010 until mid-2011 that involved proprietary trading inside of ITG’s POSIT dark pool against some of its broker clients that the firm did not disclose. Reuters and Bloomberg