Tax fraud can take many forms, but each form results in shortchanging government coffers. More seriously, with our tax system depending heavily on taxpayers’ willingness to voluntarily file tax returns and pay taxes, tax fraud undermines confidence in the system. Enforcement of tax laws builds confidence in the system, and deserves to be a law enforcement priority.
The top tax recoveries in 2022 start with...
Top Ten Federal Financial and Healthcare Fraud Prison Sentences of 2022
Posted 02/2/23
Financial and healthcare fraud often can carry stiff monetary penalties for entities facing government enforcement, as shown on our other Top Ten Lists. Whistleblowers reporting wrongful conduct under one of the federal whistleblower reward laws sometimes find that criminal authorities are as interested in their allegations as civil enforcement agencies and authorities. Fraud can also result in criminal charges and...
In 2022, the SEC and CFTC redoubled their efforts to preserve market integrity and shut down financial frauds. Both in size and composition, the agencies’ major recoveries look quite different from a year prior. 2021 was all about crypto, with four of the top ten recoveries relating to crypto offerings or exchanges. With the recent collapse of the crypto market—exposing some of the biggest frauds since the...
Top Ten Federal Financial Fraud Recoveries of 2022
Posted 02/1/23
Federal enforcement of financial fraud takes many forms. This year, thanks to positive developments in the world of money-laundering enforcement, we have expanded our Top Ten Lists related to federal financial fraud. In addition to documenting SEC and CFTC enforcement actions, FCPA enforcement, and money-laundering enforcement, the following list focuses on financial fraud in other realms.
The Consumer Financial...
State and local governments play a critical role in ensuring that businesses and individuals are held accountable if they commit healthcare fraud, financial fraud, government contract fraud, and more. For whistleblowers, state governments can offer additional opportunities to report wrongdoing.
Where government funds are at stake – and state and local government spending reaching $3 trillion annually – more...
In recent years, the United States government has recovered billions of dollars going after companies that bribe foreign officials in order to further their business interests, a practice that violates the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Two principal United States government agencies, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, investigate and prosecute FCPA violations. Whistleblowers...
Top Ten Money Laundering Enforcement Actions of 2022
Posted 01/10/23
2022 was a big year for money-laundering enforcement. It marked the first full year that the new FinCEN money laundering whistleblower office was up and running. And, even more remarkably, by the end of the year, the FinCEN program expanded to welcome whistleblowers with information related to sanctions violations after Constantine Cannon attorneys called for this legal change following the Russian invasion of...
SEC Whistleblower Program 2022 Annual Report Shows Continued Strength of Program
Posted 11/28/22
Last week the SEC Whistleblower Office released its 2022 Annual Report, with office chief Creola Kelly saying that the SEC Whistleblower Program is “effectively incentivizing whistleblowers to make the often difficult decision to come forward with information about potential securities-law violations.” The data confirms that whistleblowers are making a big difference in protecting the markets and investing...
America’s Whistleblower Programs are a Beacon for International Whistleblowers
Posted 09/28/22
Constantine Cannon whistleblower partner Mary Inman and associate Liz Soltan wrote a guest post for the Taxpayers Against Fraud blog about the role of international whistleblowers in providing an increasing number of tips under the various American whistleblower reward programs.
The U.S. leads the world in enlisting whistleblowers as force-multipliers to help law enforcement and regulators detect and root out fraud...