Archive

Fiscal Year 2022 Sets New Records for CFTC Whistleblower Program

Fiscal year 2022 was sure to be a record-breaking year for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Reward Program, as it started with a $200 million whistleblower award – an award so large that Congressional intervention was needed.  The CFTC Whistleblower Program’s annual report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2022 confirms this, reporting more than $203 million in total awards. Created by the

SEC Whistleblower Program 2022 Annual Report Shows Continued Strength of Program

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...

New York Times Covers “Cash Monster” of Risk Adjustment Fraud, Featuring Cases Initiated by Constantine Cannon Clients

Kaiser whistleblower Dr. James Taylor got the headline on the front page of Sunday’s New York Times: “The cash monster was insatiable.” The article, subtitled How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions, highlights that nearly half of the Medicare beneficiaries in the U.S. are now enrolled in Medicare Advantage programs. Federal payments to Medicare Advantage insurers make up a correspondingly increasing share...

Whistleblower Rules of the Road

Whistleblower associate Liz Soltan wrote on the Taxpayers Against Fraud blog about the need for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s whistleblower program to keep up with innovation in the auto industry. The NHTSA whistleblower program offers awards to auto industry insiders who blow the whistle on safety problems with motor vehicles. Constantine Cannon represented Kim Gwang-ho, who lives in...

Crypto projects are toying with public funds. The False Claims Act will be a powerful tool in holding them to account

Last month, the Fairfax County Retirement System shared that they will be putting $70 million of their $6.8 billion fund into two crypto yield farming funds. In other words, pension money that allows teachers, firefighters, and police officers to retire will be invested into volatile digital tokens known as yield-farming projects. Yield-farming projects offer yields that are significantly higher than those...

Jury Finds Eli Lilly Cheated Medicaid in Case Highlighting Legal Battle Over False Claims Act Intent Standard

Constantine Cannon whistleblower lawyers Marlene Koury and Leah Judge were published in Law360 on the verdict in favor of a whistleblower against Eli Lilly, and what that case says about legal developments in the interpretation of the False Claims Act since the Seventh Circuit’s SuperValu decision. This post is an adaptation of that article.

In August, a Chicago jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern...

Telehealth Boomed During the Pandemic - and so Did Telehealth Fraud

Prior to the pandemic, telehealth was basically nonexistent, with one study clocking the percentage of “virtual” doctors’ visits before Covid-19 at zero percent. At the time, America’s largest insurer, Medicare, only covered telemedicine in limited circumstances that usually still involved a visit to a healthcare facility. Medicare’s coverage limitations demonstrated the Department of Health and Human...

Constantine Cannon Attorneys Explain How the Recent Conviction of Theranos COO Sunny Balwani Underlines the Need to Expand Whistleblower Rewards Programs

As Gordon Schnell and Max Voldman explain in Fortune, the Balwani conviction closed a chapter that began several years ago when whistleblowers at the company reported to the press and authorities what they saw as something very wrong in Elizabeth Holmes’ biotech startup.  They followed a path many whistleblowers have taken, risking their own careers and livelihoods, to stop what they saw as serious fraud and...

A recent case could undermine the rules that have been protecting taxpayer money from fraud since the time of Lincoln

Constantine Cannon whistleblower lawyers Eric Havian, Mike Ronickher, and Ari Yampolsky were published in Fortune.com on the Supreme Court's consideration of the SuperValu decision.

We’re whistleblower lawyers who spend our careers speaking in legalese. But every once in a while, a case comes along that is so alarming, yet so couched in jargon, that an issue of great importance can easily escape notice. When that...

American hospitals have been resistant to whistleblowers. Here’s how they can save money and lives by embracing them.

Last month, the American Hospital Association wrote a pointed letter to the Justice Department, asking them to investigate, and potentially sue, Medicare Advantage plans for improperly denying coverage of patients’ hospital services. Medicare Advantage is a popular government program that pays private insurers premiums to cover seniors, and the insurers are required by law to provide at least the same benefits as...