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Top Ten Environmental Fraud Settlements of 2019

Posted 01/17/20

Between Greta Thunberg's "Climate Strike" mass protests, the on-going saga over the Dakota Access Pipeline, the hoopla over plant-based diets, and record temperatures and ice melts – the environment was on everyone's mind in 2019. Whistleblowers can be eligible for financial rewards for reporting environmental violations in a number of different ways, and our review below features many recoveries – including...

Tagged in: Environmental Fraud, FCA Federal, Ocean Dumping, Securities Fraud, Top 10,

Catch of the Week: ResMed Pays $37.5 Million to Settle Five Qui Tam Cases Alleging Kickbacks

Posted 01/16/20

Sleep apnea equipment manufacturer ResMed agreed to pay $37.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute by providing unlawful remuneration to durable medical equipment distributors, sleep labs, doctors, and other healthcare providers. It seems that ResMed’s kickback schemes struck many people as wrong: the settlement resolves five separate cases brought by...

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, Catch of the Week, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medical Devices and DME, Multiple Whistleblowers and First-to-File, Whistleblower Case,

DOJ 2019 Fraud Statistics Tell Story of the Critical Role of Whistleblowers

Posted 01/13/20

DOJ Headquarters building seen from low angle

The Department of Justice released its annual report of civil recoveries for fraud and false claims against the U.S., showing recoveries over $3 billion in settlements and judgments for the fiscal year ending September 2019. The data released by DOJ show the critical role that whistleblowers play in securing these recoveries for the government: of the $3 billion recovered, over $2.2 billion – 72% – was recovered...

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Importance of Whistleblowers, Statistics,

Top Ten Non-Healthcare False Claims Act Recoveries of 2019

Posted 01/10/20

This year, federal and state governments recovered hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to whistleblowers who came forward to report fraud under the federal False Claims Act and state False Claims Acts. Whistleblowers reported a wide-range of misconduct involving government contracts, including fraud by defense contractors, airlines, and even a major research university. Defendants’ deception ran the gamut...

Tagged in: Bribery and Bid-Rigging, Cybersecurity and Data Breaches, Defense Contract Fraud, FCA Federal, FCA State, Financial and Investment Fraud, Government Programs Fraud, Grant and Research Fraud, Importance of Whistleblowers, Price Fixing, Pricing Fraud, Top 10, Visa Fraud, Whistleblower Case,

Catch of the Week: Teva, A Pharmaceutical Company, Pays $54M to Settle Kickback Allegations

Posted 01/9/20

pill container spilled over with pills in the form of a dollar sign

A recent settlement between the Department of Justice and Teva, a pharmaceutical company, show how creative, and how hard to identify, kickbacks allegedly paid to physicians can be. The company has agreed to pay $54M to resolve claims when it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to doctors to boost sales of two of their drugs. Broadly speaking, the Anti-Kickback statute prohibits healthcare providers,...

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, Catch of the Week, FCA Federal, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Protection Laws,

Top Ten Whistleblower Awards of 2019

Posted 01/9/20

2019 was another strong year for whistleblowers, who once again collectively recovered billions of dollars for the government and hundreds of millions of dollars in whistleblower rewards through their filing of lawsuits under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Whistleblowers this past year also continued to secure financial rewards under the Dodd-Frank SEC Whistleblower and CFTC Whistleblower programs,...

Tagged in: CFTC Whistleblower Reward Program, FCA Federal, FCA State, Importance of Whistleblowers, SEC Whistleblower Reward Program, Top 10, Whistleblower Rewards,

Federal Audit Reveals Billions of Dollars in Medicare Advantage Overpayments

Posted 12/20/19

A new government report reveals what whistleblowers and their counsel have known for some time: the Medicare Advantage program is vulnerable to fraud committed by unscrupulous private health insurance companies, as well as their owners, vendors, affiliates, and even some doctors. These bad actors make patients enrolled in MA plans appear sicker than they actually are in order to increase their corporate profits. ...

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Importance of Whistleblowers, Managed Care, Risk Adjustment Fraud,

Why Whistleblowers Should be Honorary Members of the new Antitrust Strike Force

Posted 12/20/19

businessmen shaking hands and other placing money in others pocket

When our firm represented a whistleblower who brought down the largest oil companies in Korea for bid-rigging, resulting in fines and penalties of over $360 million, we did not imagine the case would play a role in launching a new initiative, the Justice Department’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force. The Strike Force is an interagency partnership tasked with rooting out collusive schemes like bid-rigging. The new...

Tagged in: Bribery and Bid-Rigging, FCA Federal, Government Procurement Fraud, Importance of Whistleblowers, International Whistleblowers,

Government Audit of Chronic Care Management Services Raises Serious Questions About Proposed Anti-Kickback Statute Safe Harbors

Posted 11/22/19

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is engaged in what it calls a “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care,” in order to, in the words of HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan, “update, reform, and cut back our regulations to allow innovation toward a more affordable, higher quality, value-based healthcare system.” On October 9, 2019, as part of this effort to “cut back” on regulations to advance...

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, FCA State, Healthcare Fraud, Managed Care, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Medicare,

Catch of the Week: Tenet Healthcare to Pay $66M Over Kickback Allegations

Posted 11/7/19

Tenet Healthcare, a healthcare giant that operates 65 hospitals and conducts over 10 million patient encounters annually, has agreed in principle to pay the United States roughly $66M to settle allegations that it violated the Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute. These laws generally prohibit medical providers from paying or receiving kickbacks, remuneration, or anything of value in exchange for referrals of...

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, Catch of the Week, FCA Federal, Importance of Whistleblowers, SEC Whistleblower Reward Program, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

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Top Ten Environmental Fraud Settlements of 2019

Catch of the Week: ResMed Pays $37.5 Million to Settle Five Qui Tam Cases Alleging Kickbacks

DOJ 2019 Fraud Statistics Tell Story of the Critical Role of Whistleblowers

Top Ten Non-Healthcare False Claims Act Recoveries of 2019

Catch of the Week: Teva, A Pharmaceutical Company, Pays $54M to Settle Kickback Allegations

Top Ten Whistleblower Awards of 2019

Federal Audit Reveals Billions of Dollars in Medicare Advantage Overpayments

Why Whistleblowers Should be Honorary Members of the new Antitrust Strike Force

Government Audit of Chronic Care Management Services Raises Serious Questions About Proposed Anti-Kickback Statute Safe Harbors

Catch of the Week: Tenet Healthcare to Pay $66M Over Kickback Allegations

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