Whistleblower Insider Blog

DOJ Catch of the Week – Quality Egg

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This week's Department of Justice "catch of the week" goes to Iowa-based egg producer Quality Egg. On Tuesday, this former powerhouse in the egg industry pleaded guilty to, and agreed to a $6.8 million fine for, bribing government safety inspectors and violating food safety rules which ultimately led to a nationwide salmonella outbreak in 2010. If accepted by the court, it will...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - June 6, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team $3M fund for finding MH370 -- Families of missing Malaysian flight MH370 launch a crowd-funded campaign to raise millions of dollars to hire private investigators and reward whistleblowers who can help find the missing plane.  International Business Times Why US needs to rethink whistleblower rules -- Very thoughtful piece by Human Rights Watch GC Dinah PoKempner. 

Wine Fraud: A Collector's Hazard

By Marlene Koury For those of us who drink inexpensive or modestly priced wine, wine fraud is not much of a problem.  But for the collector or wealthy connoisseur, wine fraud is a growing concern.  Most documented cases of wine fraud tend to involve the most famous and costly vintages, particularly Bordeaux wines from excellent vintages, which can go for tens of thousands of dollars.  The extravagant prices of...

Party in the (Wall) Street?

By Jason Enzler

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a decision that many had hailed as one of the first to really hold Wall Street accountable for its behavior in the years leading up to the Great Recession.  The opinion, issued yesterday, found that New York District Court Judge Jed Rakoff abused his discretion in rejecting a deal brokered between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup,...

Two Favorable Rulings for Dodd-Frank Whistleblowers, and the Whittling Away of Asadi

By Gordon Schnell 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 government (through the SEC or CFTC).  If a whistleblower merely reports within the company, to a supervisor or through an internal compliance program, the Fifth Circuit ruled there is no coverage under the Act. ...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - June 3, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Former Arthrocare top dogs guilty of $400M securities fraud scheme -- A jury has found that the medical device company's former CEO and CFO masterminded a scheme to cook the company's books at the tune of over $400M in shareholder losses.  DOJ Whistleblower to testify on Australia's World Cup bid -- A key whistleblower has been flown to New York to testify to...

Monthly Roundup -- May 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

Here is our look-back at the key whistleblower and fraud developments we have written about over the past month: Featured Posts and Commentary

• GlaxoSmithKline Under Investigation in the UK

The UK Serious Fraud Office opened a formal criminal investigation into GlaxoSmithKline's commercial practices.  GSK issued a statement saying that it is “committed to operating...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - May 30, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Judicial Watch sues DOJ on behalf of Fast and Furious whistleblower -- The government watchdog group has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the DOJ on behalf of Operation Fast and Furious whistleblower John Dodson after his own FOIA requests were ignored.  Town Hall Medtronic settles whistleblower qui tam suit for $9.9M -- The medical device maker and the...

DOJ Catch Of The Week -- King's Daughters Medical Center

[caption id="attachment_3703" align="alignright" width="300"] Source: King's Daughter Medical Center[/caption] By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This week's Department of Justice "catch of the week" goes to King's Daughters Medical Center.  On Wednesday, this large hospital in northeast Kentucky agreed to pay $41 million to resolve government charges that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims...

GlaxoSmithKline under Investigation in the UK

By Marlene Koury GlaxoSmithKline ("GSK") revealed on Tuesday that the UK Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") opened a formal criminal investigation into its commercial practices. GSK issued a statement saying that it is "committed to operating its business to the highest ethical standards and will continue to cooperate fully with the SFO." Neither GSK nor the SFO provided any further details about the practices being...