Whistleblower Group

Cleveland Clinic to Pay $7.6 Million to Settle Claims of NIH Grant Fraud

Last Friday (May 17), the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the Cleveland Clinic Foundation will pay $7.6 million to settle charges of violating the False Claims Act by improperly securing several grants from the National Institutes of Health.  It is the latest in a string of DOJ enforcement actions using the False Claims Act to go after government grant fraud. According to the government, Cleveland...

Hospital Agrees to Pay Over $24 Million to Settle False Claims Act Case Over TAVR Cardiac Procedures

The DOJ recently announced that Massachusetts-based Cape Cod Hospital agreed to pay $24.3 million and enter into a corporate integrity agreement to settle a False Claims Act case concerning Medicare claims for certain cardiac procedures. The cardiac procedures at issue, transcatheter aortic valve replacements (“TAVR”), involve replacing a diseased aortic valve with an artificial valve.  Medicare required...

Constantine Cannon Partner Gordon Schnell Featured in Forbes on New FAA Whistleblower Legislation

As reported in Forbes last week (May 16), both the House and Senate recently passed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2024, which among other things adds three provisions aimed at strengthening the protections for FAA whistleblowers.  One of them would introduce a regular "peer review" of FAA whistleblower protections to ensure they are up to snuff.  Another would provide the FAA a...

DOJ Secures Guity Plea in Bid-Rigging Case Involving Sales of Sports Equipment to Schools

The DOJ recently secured a guilty plea from an employee of a manufacturer and distributor of sports equipment for rigging bids to sell sports equipment to public schools. The employee pleaded guilty to his involvement in bid-rigging conspiracies in violation of the Sherman Act, the country’s principal antitrust statute, as well as a conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to the DOJ’s announcement, the...

DOJ Catch of the Week: Kabbage Inc.

This week's Department of Justice (DOJ) Catch of the Week goes to bankrupt financial technology company Kabbage Inc. (doing business as KServicing).  On Monday (May 13), DOJ announced that the company agreed to pay up to $120 million to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act by improperly securing Small Business Administration (SBA) loans through the COVID relief Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).  The...

AI is Proving to be an Advantage for Whistleblowers in Protection Against Fraud

Guilty Plea in Antitrust Bid-Rigging Case, DOJ Wants To Hear From Whistleblowers Who Have Information About Procurement Fraud Schemes

The Department of Justice recently announced that a former owner of a government contractor that provided services to U.S. Forest Service pleaded guilty to violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act involving bid rigging, territory allocation, and conspiracy to monopolize. The plea agreement identifies two overarching antitrust conspiracies at issue in this case. The first was “[a] bid-rigging and territorial...

Constantine Cannon Partner Gordon Schnell Published in The Hill on the Need to Strengthen Whistleblower Protections to Avoid the Next Boeing-Style Corporate Fiasco

Last week (May 7), The Hill published an Opinion Piece by Constantine Cannon whistleblower partner Gordon Schnell on the need for stronger whistleblower protections to avoid the next Boeing-esque corporate fiasco. Schnell pointed to the ever-expanding crisis Boeing has faced, with new whistleblower revelations emerging every week, as just the latest demonstration "that there is something seriously wrong with how we...

Cracking Down on Terrorist Groups: Understanding the New FinCEN Treasury Advisory

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has just rolled out an important Advisory. This guide is designed to help banks and other financial institutions spot and stop illegal transactions linked to terrorist groups supported by Iran, especially with the recent uptick in terrorist activity in the Middle East. FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki explained that as violence and...