WB Group Successes

KBR – Defense Contracting Fraud ($108.75 million)

Constantine Cannon represented whistleblowers Geoffrey Howard and Zella Hemphill Anderson in a False Claims Act case against defense contractor KBR Inc. that resulted in the largest settlement to date involving Iraq War fraud.  KBR agreed to pay the government $108.75 million, with the whistleblowers sharing an award of $31.5 million, representing a whistleblower share of 29% of the total recovered.  The whistleblowers alleged that KBR overcharged the U.S. government in connection with procuring supplies and materials to support U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Iraq War. The relevant contract, pursuant to which the government reimbursed KBR for its costs plus profit, required KBR to make efficient use of taxpayer funds by “cross-leveling” before procuring new material, including by checking to see if KBR already had excess of the needed item available in-theater before buying more.  In their complaint, the relators, both of whom worked for KBR during the Iraq War, alleged that KBR’s failures to “cross-level” resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in excess materials and overcharges to the government.  Press Release; Whistleblower Insider

Hyundai Motors and Kia Motors – Concealing safety defects ($210 million)

Constantine Cannon represented whistleblower Gwang Ho Kim, a former engineer at Hyundai who exposed Hyundai and Kia’s efforts to deceive U.S. vehicle safety regulators about safety defects affecting engines in millions of vehicles.  Hyundai and Kia agreed to pay combined penalties of $81 million (and up to $210 million), the largest penalties safety regulators have ever assessed against a carmaker, in connection with the misconduct Kim exposed. Kim’s $24.3 million award is first-ever monetary award made under the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act, which creates a whistleblower reward program to pay awards to auto-industry insiders who provide information to safety regulators about defects in vehicles. Under the program, auto-industry whistleblowers—who, like Kim, may be anywhere in the world—can protect the public by bringing to regulators critical information about disastrous safety defects. Read more: Award Press Release; Whistleblower Insider; NHTSA

Sutter Health – Medicare Advantage Fraud ($90 million)

Constantine Cannon represented whistleblower Kathy Ormsby in a False Claims Act litigation against Sutter Health and its affiliates that resulted in a $90 million settlement – the largest Medicare Advantage FCA settlement to date against a hospital system, and the second largest reported Medicare Advantage fraud settlement to date.  Ms. Ormsby, a former Risk Adjustment Factor Project Manager at Sutter Health affiliate Palo Alto Medical Foundation, alleged the Sutter Health defendants inflated the number and severity of Medicare Advantage patient diagnoses, manipulated patient records, ignored audit “red flags,” and engaged in other misconduct to increase patient risk scores and obtain Medicare Advantage payments to which they were not entitled.  In Spring 2019, the Government intervened in Ms. Ormsby’s case as to PAMF, and Ms. Ormsby continued to pursue her claims against the other Sutter Health affiliates on a non-intervened basis. This settlement resolves all claims and follows Sutter’s unsuccessful effort to dismiss both the complaints.  Read more: Press Release; Whistleblower Insider.

Kaiser Permanente – Medicare Advantage Risk Adjustment Fraud (Case Intervention)

Constantine Cannon represents Dr. James Taylor, a highly placed physician and healthcare coding expert, in False Claims Act litigation against Kaiser Permanente.  He is among a group of ten whistleblowers who accuse the large Medicare Advantage organization of knowingly submitting false claims for risk-adjusted payments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  The suit alleges that Kaiser routinely obtained fraudulently inflated risk-adjusted payments by knowingly submitting diagnosis codes for patients that were unsupported by the patients’ medical records, and the government’s intervention focuses on unsupported diagnosis codes that Kaiser allegedly improperly added through addenda to patients’ medical records.  The qui tam whistleblower suit was unsealed on July 29, 2021. See:  Taylor Amended Complaint; DOJ Press Release

ITG – Securities violations (30% SEC whistleblower award)

Constantine Cannon’s team secured another multi-million-dollar SEC whistleblower award for an anonymous whistleblower whose original information and assistance led to an enforcement action against brokerage firm ITG.  The SEC has repeatedly fined ITG in recent years, including for violations related to the firm’s dark pool, POSIT.  A dark pool is an alternate trading system that is supposed to allow investors to place buy and sell orders without alerting predatory traders who can manipulate prices.  ITG told its customers that they could trade in POSIT anonymously and confidentially, but the SEC twice concluded this was false.  The SEC awarded our client 30 percent of the recovery, the maximum amount allowed under the SEC Whistleblower Program.  For more information, see Constantine Cannon Client Receives Maximum Award for Blowing the Whistle on ITG

Group Health Cooperative (now a subsidiary of Kaiser Permanente) – Medicare Advantage Fraud ($6.375 million)

Constantine Cannon represents whistleblower Teresa Ross against Group Health Cooperative, an insurance company that participates in the Medicare Advantage program. GHC has agreed to pay $6.375 million to resolve allegations that the insurance plan improperly collected money from the Medicare Advantage program by overstating how sick its beneficiaries were. Ms. Ross is a former employee of GHC, where she worked for 14 years; her most recent position was the director of risk adjustment services. In her complaint, Ms. Ross alleged that GHC had improperly relied on coders’ interpretations of diagnostic tests, prescriptions, and entries in problem lists to come up with diagnoses and that it had also submitted other codes that were false because they were diagnosed by inappropriate providers, fell outside service year, or the patient had no evidence of a current condition. See Press Release and Whistleblower Insider for more.

Securities Fraud ($1.7 million SEC whistleblower award)

Constantine Cannon’s whistleblower team secured a $1.7 million award for an SEC whistleblower client.  The client, a former company insider, provided extensive and ongoing assistance to the SEC in its investigation of a major international company.  Significantly, Constantine Cannon convinced the SEC to increase our client’s award, acknowledging not only our client’s significant investigative assistance but also the risks the client took to alert investors to the misconduct and the justified fear of retaliation the client faced as an employee of the company.  The SEC increases a whistleblower’s award in fewer than 7% of cases.  See Constantine Cannon Client Scores SEC Whistleblower Win for more information.

Mid Dakota Clinic – Medicare Fraud/ASC Kickbacks ($5.45M)

The Constantine Cannon team represented Jeffery Neuberger, the former CEO of a medical group in North Dakota, in a 2017 False Claims Act case alleging a scheme in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) between the medical group and its wholly owned ambulatory surgery center (ASC).  The AKS is intended to prevent abuses (such as unnecessary treatments) that can occur when a doctor makes money from referring patients for goods or services.  The ASC safe-harbor to the AKS is limited; it essentially permits ASC ownership only by surgeons who perform procedures or surgeries in the ASC as a functional extension of his or her office.  The lawsuit alleges that all of the multi-practice physician owners profited from referrals, not only the surgeons, and that they refused to give up this lucrative income stream despite knowing that it violated the AKS.  In November 2019, Mid Dakota Clinic, its affiliated building partnership, and insurer agreed to pay the United States $4.15 million to resolve the case.  The clinic additionally paid $1.3 million for the whistleblower’s attorneys’ fees and costs, for a total payment of $5.45 million.  The United States awarded Mr. Neuberger a 25% relator’s share of its recovery.

Wireless Carriers – Government Contracting Fraud ($138.7 million)

Constantine Cannon represented whistleblower OnTheGo Wireless, LLC, in state False Claims Act litigation against the four largest U.S. wireless carriers, AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile, that resulted in the recovery of $138.7 million for the states of California, Nevada, and other jurisdictions, including political subdivisions in those states.  The whistleblower, an industry expert but not an insider at any of the carriers, alleged that the carriers knowingly failed to comply with contractual promises to deliver service “at the lowest cost available,” and provide rate plan “optimization” reports each quarter.  The contracts in questions were cooperative purchasing contracts that allowed different government entities to purchase under the terms and conditions of a master contract negotiated by a lead government agency.  For the carriers, becoming providers under the cooperative purchasing agreements gave them access to a multi-billion dollar market and, eager to have that access, the carriers agreed to provide rate plan optimization, but then, according to the whistleblower, failed to provide it.  The contracts were long-standing and the terms highly specialized.  And, many government agencies agreed to purchase under the contracts based solely on the fact they were put together by the Western States Contracting Alliance (“WSCA”).  This created an opportunity, OnTheGo alleged, that the carriers knowingly exploited to breach their promise to deliver low cost service and rate plan optimization, resulting in hundreds of millions of overcharges to government entities.  Over 30 California political subdivisions intervened in the California action and were also represented by Constantine Cannon; the State of Nevada intervened in the Nevada action. Plaintiffs ultimately recovered $138.7 million, and the whistleblower received a relator share of nearly 40%.  See Press Release and Whistleblower Insider for more.

Centric Parts – Customs Fraud ($8 million)

In a customs fraud victory, the Constantine Cannon team represented whistleblower Steve Hughes in his successful False Claims Act action against his former employer, auto parts distributor CWD, LLC.  Hughes alleged that CWD, which does business as Centric Parts, misclassified brake pads imported from Asia as “unmounted” brake pads when they were, in fact, brake pads mounted to a metal backing plate, and therefor subject to a 2.5% tariff.  When Hughes learned of the misclassification, he immediately advised the CEO and CFO to disclose the issue to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  Instead, the company concealed the misclassification and retaliated against Hughes.  As a result of Centric’s alleged omissions and false statements regarding its imported products, the company knowingly evaded millions of dollars of customs duties it owed to the United States.  The $8 million settlement resolved the Hughes lawsuit and one other qui tam action filed by a different whistleblower.  The whistleblowers shared a $1.48 million whistleblower award, representing 18.5% of the government’s recovery.  Whistleblower Insider; Press release