Whistleblower Group

SEC Chair Gary Gensler to Step Down

Yesterday (November 21), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced current SEC Chair Gary Gensler will leave the agency on January 20, 2025 when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.  Gensler’s departure is no surprise as Trump has made it clear he would be appointing someone else to take over as the SEC’s top cop.  No doubt, Gensler’s replacement will bring to the agency a very different...

CFTC Issues Annual Whistleblower Report Highlighting Continued Success of CFTC Whistleblower Program

As it is required to do every year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) just released its Annual Report on the CFTC Whistleblower Program, which provides rewards and protections to whistleblowers providing the agency with information on Commodities Exchange Act violations.  The 2024 Report covers the period from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024 and as with its previous annual reports, details...

Fishy Business and Fraudulent Bills: New York Internist Pleads Guilty to $891K Healthcare Fraud Scheme

The Hippocratic Oath was apparently not an ethical pledge Dr. Kenneth Fishberger took to heart. On Thursday, November 14, 2024, New York doctor Dr. Fishberger, 75, pleaded guilty in Boston federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. Fishberger, an internist from East Setauket, N.Y., received kickbacks for ordering medically unnecessary transcranial doppler (TCD) brain scans, tests used to...

QOL Medical to Pay $47 Million to Settle DOJ and Whistleblower Kickback Claims

Last Friday (November 15), Florida-based pharmaceutical company QOL Medical and its CEO Frederick Cooper agreed to pay $47 million to resolve Department of Justice (DOJ) and whistleblower charges they violated the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute by providing patients free breath testing services to induce them to purchase QOL’s drug Sucraid. Sucraid treats Congenital Sucrase-Isomaltase Deficiency...

Paragon Systems to Pay $52 Million to Settle DOJ Charges of Fraudulently Securing Government Security Contracts Set Aside for Veteran- and Female-Owned Businesses

On November 12, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Virginia-based contractor Paragon Systems agreed to pay $52 million to settle DOJ and whistleblower charges of violating the False Claims Act by fraudulently securing government security contracts set aside for small businesses owned by women and veterans.  Paragon is one of the government’s largest providers of specialized security, fire and emergency...

DOJ Hits University of Colorado Health with $23 Million Penalty for Allegedly Upcoding Emergency Services

On November 12, University of Colorado Health (UCHealth) agreed to pay $23 million to settle Department of Justice (DOJ) and whistleblower charges of violating the False Claims Act by fraudulently billing Medicare and Tricare for certain emergency department services. According to the government, UCHealth used an automatic coding system where it billed certain emergency department services at the highest...

CFTC Makes $4 Million Whistleblower Award

On November 12, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced a $4 million award to two whistleblowers under the CFTC Whistleblower Program.  With this award, the agency has now issued roughly $390 million in whistleblower awards since its first award under the program in 2014.  These awards have been associated with more than $3.2 billion in monetary sanctions. The award follows a flurry of...

Former Kentucky Pharmacist Sentenced for Healthcare Fraud Scheme & How Whistleblowers Can Help Cases Like This

In a recent case out of Corbin, Kentucky, former pharmacist Stephanie Collins was sentenced to 20 months in prison after being found guilty of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid by billing for medications and medical supplies she never provided to her customers, violating the False Claims Act.

Operating as Stephanie’s Down Home Pharmacy, Collins falsely claimed reimbursements for drugs and diabetic test strips that...

Constantine Cannon Partner Gordon Schnell Published in Washington Technology on DOJ's Enforcement Crusade Against Cybersecurity Fraud

On Wednesday (October 28), government contracting magazine Washington Technology published a commentary by Constantine Cannon whistleblower partner Gordon Schnell on the recent string of False Claims Act enforcement actions DOJ has brought against government contractors for cybersecurity failures.

As Schnell points out, the most recent of these actions is last week's DOJ settlement with Penn State University for...

West Virginia Business Owner Sentenced for COVID Relief Fund Fraud

It appears there is a new name on the list of COVID relief fraudsters—Mark William Bailey, a business owner who evidently couldn’t resist misusing taxpayer-funded pandemic relief for personal luxuries, according to the DOJ this week. After misappropriating approximately $451,237.51 in COVID-19 relief funds guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic...