Payments News Update – November 10, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: US Consumer Watchdog Proposes Rules for Big Tech Payments, Digital Wallets Reuters – November 7, 2023 The top U.S. consumer financial watchdog on Tuesday proposed to regulate tech giants' digital payments and smartphone wallet services, saying they rival traditional payment methods in scale and scope but lack consumer safeguards. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) proposal would subject companies like Alphabet, Apple, PayPal and Block's...

October 18, 2023

The president of a California-based medical technology company has been sentenced to 8 years in prison and ordered to pay $24 million in restitution in the first COVID-related criminal securities fraud case charged by DOJ and the first COVID-related criminal healthcare fraud case brought to trial.  Among many things, Mark Schena of Arrayit Corporation was found to have taken advantage of the pandemic by claiming he and his company had...

Payments News Update – October 6, 2023

Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Supreme Court to Consider Debit Fee Case Payments Dive – September 29, 2023 The Supreme Court on Friday granted a petition from a group of North Dakota merchants who brought a case against the Federal Reserve Board in 2021 over the central bank’s setting of a debit card fee cap. The merchants’ petition for review isn’t with respect to the merits of the case, but...

In Their Own Words. . . .Deputy Attorney General Monaco

"Combating all types of fraud is a top Justice Department priority.  That is especially true when the fraud involves exploitation of the suffering of others." Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco in announcing the results of DOJ's latest nationwide COVID-19 fraud enforcement sweep, which over the last three months included 700 enforcement actions involving over $830 million in fraud.

Scoundrel Spotlight - The Grenon Family

This week's Scoundrel in the Spotlight is Mark Grenon and his three sons, Jonathan, Joseph, and Jordan.  As reported in the Miami Herald, on Wednesday (July 19) a Florida jury convicted them for selling a toxic bleach solution as a miracle cure out of a fake online church.  They called it a "Miracle Mineral Solution" and pitched it as a cure for 95% of the world's diseases from AIDS to...

Bank of America to Pay $250 Million over Junk Fees and Fake Accounts

Government regulators this week ordered Bank of America to pay $250 million for engaging in a string of illegal banking practices that harmed hundreds of thousands of consumers. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) accused Bank of America of double-dipping on junk fees, withholding promised credit card rewards, and opening fake credit card accounts. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) also accused Bank of America of illegally...

Celebrating Whistleblowers on World Whistleblower Day

Today (June 23) is World Whistleblower Day.  It was originally created in 2019 by a group of NGOs to raise global awareness of the critical role whistleblowers play in combatting fraud and corruption.  One of the principal groups behind the special day, and the one that promotes it the most widely, is Transparency International.  It is the independent, not-for-profit NGO  dedicated to stopping corruption and promoting transparency, accountability and integrity...

June 8, 2023

Billy Joe Taylor of Lavaca, Arkansas, will spend 15 years in prison and will pay nearly $30 million in restitution for submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor and his co-conspirators misused medical information and private personal information for Medicare beneficiaries, and then used that information to repeatedly submit fraudulent claims for medically unnecessary diagnostic laboratory testing. USAO WDAR

Top Ten Tax Enforcement Actions of 2022

Tax fraud can take many forms, but each form results in shortchanging government coffers.  More seriously, with our tax system depending heavily on taxpayers’ willingness to voluntarily file tax returns and pay taxes, tax fraud undermines confidence in the system.  Enforcement of tax laws builds confidence in the system, and deserves to be a law enforcement priority. The top tax recoveries in 2022 start with the IRS’s involvement in cryptocurrency...

DOJ FY2022 Annual Fraud Report Shows $2.2 Billion in Total Recoveries, with $1.9 Billion Thanks to Whistleblowers - But There are Reasons for Concern

The Department of Justice released its annual report of civil recoveries for fraud and false claims against the U.S., showing $2.2 billion in settlements and judgments for the fiscal year ending September 2022. The data released by DOJ show the critical role that whistleblowers play in securing these recoveries for the government:  of the $2.2 billion recovered, $1.96 billion – 89% – was recovered in cases initiated by whistleblowers under...