Whistleblower Insider Blog

A Disappointing Whistleblower Report from the IRS

By Marlene Koury The IRS recently released its Annual Report to Congress on its whistleblower program and the results are discouraging even for an agency that has a questionable track record when it comes to dealing with whistleblowers.  Despite having received more tips than ever – over nine thousand of them -- the IRS paid only $53 million to whistleblowers in 2013.  This is a sharp drop from the $125 million...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - April 8, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team UConn star basketball player weighs in on paying athletes -- Shabazz Napier said that while he had made money for the school, his coaches, Nike, and others, he had not always had enough spending money to buy food and often went to bed “starving.”  New Yorker Feds crack down on illegal cancer meds – Thanks to the help of whistleblower tips, the government is closing in on...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - April 4, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team DOJ secures $5.15 billion settlement in environmental contamination case – Anadarko Petroleum and its subsidiary Kerr-McGee have agreed to the landmark settlement to resolve claims that they improperly evaded responsibilities to clean-up environmental contamination.  DOJ   State Department has lost track of $6 billion – The agency issued an alert noting it had found...

Monthly Roundup - March 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

• NLRB Declares College Athletes are Employees Entitled to Unionize

As if the NCAA did not have enough to worry about with the class action lawsuit attacking as an illegal price-fixing agreement the NCAA’s age-old ban on...

The Hypocrisy of Big-Time College Sports

By Gordon Schnell and David Scupp (Published in CNN) The debate has gone on for years.  The athletes in big-time college sports bring in billions of dollars for their universities and the NCAA, but get nothing in return -- other than a scholarship that does not even cover the full cost of attending school.  Until now, it has been largely a philosophical discussion among academics and sports enthusiasts.  Are...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - April 1, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Federal court says $2.3 billion whistleblower lawsuit against Hawker Beechcraft Corp. is a go -- The decision reverses a bankruptcy court ruling that blocked litigation over allegedly defective parts used in planes sold to the U.S. government.  WSJ Whistleblower claims DuPont contamination in Louisiana – A just unsealed False Claims Act whistleblower suit by a longtime DuPont...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - March 28, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Air force fires officers over cheating – Nine officers were fired at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana as part of a widespread cheating scandal among those entrusted with launching intercontinental nuclear missiles.  NYT Second Chicago State whistleblower steps forward – Glenn Meeks, the university’s former CFO, files a lawsuit claiming he was fired in retaliation for...

NLRB Declares College Athletes are Employees Entitled to Unionize

By Gordon Schnell As if the NCAA did not have enough to worry about with the class action lawsuit filed last week attacking as an illegal price-fixing agreement the NCAA’s age-old ban on player compensation.  Now it has to deal with yesterday’s decision by the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago that Northwestern University scholarship football players are employees of the school and therefore entitled...

When Documenting a Crime Becomes a Crime

By Marlene Koury Last month, Idaho passed the latest of the so-called “Ag-Gag” bills that have been introduced in state legislatures over the past few years.  This law, much like the Ag-Gag laws already passed in Iowa, Utah, Missouri, North Dakota, Montana and Kansas, bans anyone -- including journalists, employees, and animal rights activists – from photographing or filming anything inside factory farms and...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - March 25, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Ireland’s police chief resigns over whistleblower flap – This stems from the remarks made by the Irish Republic’s top cop, Martin Callinan, before a parliamentary committee in January where he described as “quite disgusting” the actions of two whistleblowers reporting misconduct within the force.  Businessweek Despite settlement, whistleblower continues to face...