Whistleblower Insider Blog

Whistleblowers Beware Of What Company Documents You Take To Support Your Qui Tam Case.

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team A cautionary note for would-be whistleblowers. When it comes to internal company documents that reveal fraud or misconduct, you may assume you have broad license to take them and use them to support your potential False Claims Act case. You do not. As made clear in last week's Eastern District of Pennsylvania decision Notorfransesco v. Surgical Monitoring Assoc., it all depends...

Countrywide Financial Whistleblower Earns $57 Million Reward

By Jason Enzler Edward O’Donnell, a former Vice-President of Countrywide Financial, has been awarded a $57 million bounty as part of a settlement of his False Claims Act lawsuit against his former employer.  According to a New York Times report, Mr. O’Donnell filed his lawsuit earlier this year alleging that Countrywide defrauded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by selling problematic mortgage-related securities. ...

In Their Own Words - Al-Majid

-- “Woe be to any other person who cares enough to risk personal safety to report FIFA corruption.”

Phaedra Al-Majid commenting on her claim that the world’s governing soccer body mistreated her and another whistleblower.

Whistleblower News from the Inside - December 17, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team 14 indicted for nationwide deadly fungal meningitis outbreak –  The 131-count indictment include charges against pharmacists for second-degree murder for distributing contaminated prescriptions that affected hundreds and killed over 60 people.  DOJ IRS Whistleblower seeks permission to leave the U.S. – Bradley Birkenfeld, the IRS whistleblower who received a $100 million...

2014 Whistleblower of the Year

Whistlebower Insider wants to hear from you on who should be honored as the 2014 Whistleblower of the Year.  We are especially interested in those individuals who best encapsulate the qualities of the typical whistleblower -- courage, strength, integrity, selflessness and a deep concern for public health and safety.  You can choose among the 5 candidates listed below, or identify your own candidate. ...

In Their Own Words - Deltour

-- “FROM THE BEGINNING, I ACTED OUT OF CONVICTION, FOR MY IDEAS, NOT TO APPEAR IN THE MEDIA.”

Antoine Deltour, the 28-year-old former PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor charged with theft and violating trade secrets in Luxembourg in the wake of the LuxLeaks tax avoidance scandal.  Click here for more.

Whistleblower News from the Inside - December 16, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team SUNY Research Foundation settles whistleblower claims for $3.75M -- The whistleblower had filed a False Claims Act case claiming the Foundation directed its employees to doctor audits to hide the number of ineligible people receiving Medicaid benefits.  Syracuse.com Eyak Technology and Eyak Services settles False Claim Act claims for $2.5M -- The settlement resolves allegations...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - December 12, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Virginia joins Guardrail case -- Virginia joined a whistleblower lawsuit against Trinity Industries Inc. over an allegedly defective guardrail system, becoming the first state to say it will seek to claw back money spent on the company’s roadside safety hardware. Bloomberg Foreign whistleblowers gaining traction – Lawyers say they are coming across a proliferation of foreign...

DOJ Catch Of The Week -- OtisMed Corp.

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This week's Department of Justice "catch of the week" goes to medical products manufacturer OtisMed Corp. On Monday, the company and its former CEO Charlie Chi admitted to intentionally distributing knee replacement surgery cutting guides (called the OtisKnee) after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had rejected their application for marketing clearance. OtisMed agreed to...

Unfavorable Ruling for Dodd-Frank Whistleblowers: Moving Back Toward Asadi

By Marlene Koury There is a split among the federal courts as to whether an employee is covered under the anti-retaliation provisions of Dodd-Frank when the employee only reports the conduct internally rather than to the SEC. Last summer, the Fifth Circuit in Asadi v. GE Energy ruled the whistleblower retaliation protections of the Dodd-Frank Act apply only to those who actually provide information to the...