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Catch of the Week: Capital One pays $390M to resolve anti-money laundering (AML) violations.

Posted 01/22/21

Capital One, one of America’s ten largest banks, has agreed to pay $390 million to resolve allegations that it violated the Bank Secrecy Act and various other laws targeted at preventing money laundering. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) specifically said that Capital One willfully failed to guard against money laundering from 2008 to 2014, including a failure to file...

Tagged in: Catch of the Week, Financial and Investment Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud, Money Laundering, Tax Fraud,

IRS Makes its 2020 Whistleblower Report to Congress: Mandatory Awards Hold Steady, but Long Delays Continue

Posted 01/8/21

2020 proved to be a difficult year for most people, but within the tumult of the year the IRS Whistleblower Office continued to work and on December 29, 2020 provided its annual report to Congress (for fiscal year ending September 30, 2020). The report showed a mixed bag of success and difficulties in addressing tax fraud and awarding whistleblowers. The IRS Whistleblower Office made 169 awards to whistleblowers in...

Tagged in: IRS Whistleblower Reward Program, Statistics, Tax Fraud,

D.C. Council Passes Amendment that Expands D.C. False Claims Act to Cover Tax Fraud

Posted 01/8/21

The D.C. Council has passed, by veto-proof majority, an amendment to its False Claims Act that expands the scope of the Act to cover tax fraud claims. The amended D.C. FCA will cover tax fraud claims against people and entities that file taxes in D.C., report at least $1 million in income, and understate their tax liability or seek a tax refund resulting in damages of $350,000 or more. D.C. joins New York and Guam,...

Tagged in: FCA State, IRS Whistleblower Reward Program, Legislation and Regulation News, Tax Fraud,

Top Ten State Healthcare and Financial Fraud Recoveries of 2020

Posted 01/8/21

State and local governments are on the front lines of enforcing anti-fraud laws and play a critical role in ensuring that businesses and individuals are held accountable. Whistleblowers with information about corporate misconduct involving healthcare, government procurement, financial regulation, and tax may find that state proceedings offer them the best option. More than 30 states have False Claims Acts that...

Tagged in: Auto Safety, Drug and DME Pricing, FCA State, Financial and Investment Fraud, Government Procurement Fraud, Government Programs Fraud, Healthcare Fraud, Medical Billing Fraud, Pharma Fraud, Provider Fraud, Tax Fraud, Top 10,

Sunshine State Local Elections Shine Light on How Dark Shell Company Data Can Be

Posted 11/18/20

Amidst the ongoing saga of the US national elections, Florida local elections may not have made much of a ripple. But one small scandal in the Sunshine State reveals a lot about the ongoing problem the US has with shell corporations and their hidden ownership structures. The story is convoluted, as most shell company stories are. A political donor, Proclivity, who had never donated money in Florida before,...

Tagged in: Abusive Tax Shelters, Financial and Investment Fraud, Financial Institution Fraud, Importance of Whistleblowers, Money Laundering, Regulatory Violations,

Catch of the Week: New York Sues Sotheby’s for Helping Art Collector Evade Millions in Taxes

Posted 11/13/20

This week’s Catch of the Week spotlights another tax dodge by the rich and powerful, but with a twist, implicating international auction house Sotheby’s, one of the world’s largest brokers of fine arts, jewelry, and collectibles. Sotheby’s stands accused of enabling a wealthy art collector client to fraudulently evade taxes on $27 million worth of art. Under New York tax law, art resellers who meet certain...

Tagged in: Catch of the Week, Tax Fraud,

Proposed Changes to NY FCA Tax Provisions Rattle Potential Tax Fraudsters

Posted 10/16/20

Albany New York Capitol Complex buildings against blue sky

New York is one of several states that has provisions in its state False Claims Act (“NY FCA”) allowing whistleblower (or qui tam) suits for violations of the state’s tax laws. On August 3, 2020 (Senate) and October 7, 2020 (Assembly), the New York state legislature, introduced bills proposing revisions to the NY FCA’s tax provisions.

The Proposed Legislation

The Senate bill’s accompanying memorandum...

Tagged in: FCA State, IRS Whistleblower Reward Program, Legislation and Regulation News, Tax Fraud,

Catch of the Week: Texas-Sized Indictment for $2 Billion Tax Fraud

Posted 10/16/20

texas longhorn bull standing in open grass field

Everything sure is bigger in Texas. Bigger hair, bigger churches, bigger stadiums, bigger ranches, and bigger sky. Oh, and as of this week, bigger billionaires committing bigger frauds! On Thursday, federal prosecutors in California charged Robert T. Brockman, a Houston tech executive, with hiding $2 billion in income from the Internal Revenue Service. True to Texas form, David L. Anderson, the U.S. attorney...

Tagged in: Abusive Tax Shelters, Catch of the Week, Importance of Whistleblowers, IRS Whistleblower Reward Program, Money Laundering, Tax Fraud,

Constantine Cannon Attorneys Ari Yampolsky and Chris McLamb Published in the Daily Journal on the California FCA

Posted 09/17/20

On September 8, 2020, Constantine Cannon attorneys Ari Yampolsky and Chris McLamb published an article in the Daily Journal discussing the California State Senate’s failure to pass critical amendments to the California False Claims Act. Among other things, the amendments would have closed a loophole that lets tax cheats off the hook and rebuffed defendants’ attacks on the CFCA’s longstanding materiality...

Tagged in: CC Lawyers, FCA State, Tax Fraud,

Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team’s Top-Ten “Staff Picks” of 2019

Posted 01/27/20

From cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, and “big data” to private-equity backed healthcare, private detention facilities, and the essential whistleblower experience – your prolific and relentless CC WB bloggers have chosen some of their favorite 2019 posts (and one from 2018) – don’t miss these insider-favorite gems!

1. Your worst nightmare – private data exposed to the unscrupulous – could be curbed...

Tagged in: Cryptocurrency, Cybersecurity and Data Breaches, FCA Federal, FCPA, Importance of Whistleblowers, Money Laundering, Pharma Fraud, Tax Fraud, Top 10, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

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Catch of the Week: Capital One pays $390M to resolve anti-money laundering (AML) violations.

IRS Makes its 2020 Whistleblower Report to Congress: Mandatory Awards Hold Steady, but Long Delays Continue

D.C. Council Passes Amendment that Expands D.C. False Claims Act to Cover Tax Fraud

Top Ten State Healthcare and Financial Fraud Recoveries of 2020

Sunshine State Local Elections Shine Light on How Dark Shell Company Data Can Be

Catch of the Week: New York Sues Sotheby’s for Helping Art Collector Evade Millions in Taxes

Proposed Changes to NY FCA Tax Provisions Rattle Potential Tax Fraudsters

The Proposed Legislation

Catch of the Week: Texas-Sized Indictment for $2 Billion Tax Fraud

Constantine Cannon Attorneys Ari Yampolsky and Chris McLamb Published in the Daily Journal on the California FCA

Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team’s Top-Ten “Staff Picks” of 2019

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