Whistleblower News From The Inside — August 4, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

IRS whistleblowers get $17.8M – The U.S. Tax Court awarded $17.8M to a pair of whistleblowers in a decision that for the first time granted whistleblowers a portion of criminal fines and civil forfeitures in addition to part of the taxes the government recouped. The Wall Street Journal

Hedge fund doubles financial reserve set aside for FCPA probe – Och-Ziff Capital Management, which has been under investigation for over 5 years related to bribery involving Libya’s sovereign wealth fund, nearly doubled the money it set aside for anticipated FCPA fines, from $214M to $414M. Bloomberg

South Korea indicts prosecutor on bribery charges – In the latest allegation of high profile corruption in the recent past, South Korea indicted senior prosecutor Jin Kyung-joon for allegedly receiving approximately $11M over a 9 year period from an online gaming company executive. South Korea previously convicted the chairmen of Samsung and Hyundai and indicted two professional baseball players on corruption-related charges. Wall Street Journal

Illinois routinely ignores animal cruelty whistleblowers – An investigation reveals the Illinois Bureau of Animal Health and Welfare routinely discounts or dismisses detailed whistleblower complaints describing animal cruelty and torture at Illinois hog farms. The Chicago Tribune

New Jersey man convicted of healthcare fraud – New Jersey Ambulance company operator Nadr Awad faces up to 10 years in prison for running the company under his brother’s name to skirt a ban from participating in federal healthcare programs due to prior convictions. USAO District of New Jersey

Three Irish bankers sentenced to prison over 2008 financial crisis – Three Irish bankers were sentenced to 3.5 years for conspiring to defraud investors; their convictions are among the first in the world linked to the 2008 recession. Reuters