Whistleblower News From The Inside — March 8, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Raytheon must face $1 billion whistleblower lawsuit -- The 9th Circuit overturned a district court's dismissal of a False Claims Act suit "accusing the defense contractor of fraudulently overbilling the U.S. government under a contract to develop a weather sensor for a costly environmental satellite system."  Reuters Maybe too big to jail, but never too small -- Gordon Schnell writes on the current state...

State Enforcement Spotlight – Natixis Funding And Societe Generale

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This State Enforcement Spotlight features Natixis Funding Corp. and Societe Generale. On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a $56 million joint state-federal settlement for fraudulent and anticompetitive conduct in municipal bond derivative transactions with state and local government entities and nonprofits across the country. See NY AG Press Release. Natixis and Societe Generale will pay $29,950,000 and $26,750,000 respectively as part of a...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — February 26, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Landmark financial whistleblower legislation introduced in Senate and House -  Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight, and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced the Whistleblower Augmented Reward and Non-Retaliation Act of 2016 (WARN Act). This gold standard whistleblower protection bill would provide badly needed teeth in anti-retaliation rights for those who challenge bank fraud.  GAP UBS faces money...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — February 5, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Wells Fargo to pay $1.2b to settle whistleblower mortgage suit  --  Wells Fargo & Co. said it would pay $1.2 billion to settle a long running mortgage-lending whistleblower suit accusing the bank of “reckless origination and underwriting” of government-backed loans. WSJ Dismissed NHS whistleblower receives £1.22m in damages --  Cardiologist Raj Mattu claimed he had been vilified and bullied and subjected to a 12-year “witch-hunt”...

Top-10 DOJ Mortgage Fraud Settlements For 2015

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Here is our look-back at the top-10 Department of Justice mortgage fraud settlements in 2015.      10.  WALTER INVESTMENT -- Walter Investment Management Corp. agreed to pay $29.6 million to resolve allegations that, through its subsidiaries, Reverse Mortgage Solution, REO Management Solutions and RMS Asset Management Solutions, it violated the False Claims Act in connection with the subsidiaries’ participation in the Department of...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - October 29, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team New False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit against Wells Fargo -- A False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit against Wells Fargo was unsealed this week, alleging Wachovia bank (purchased by Wells Fargo) defrauded the government when the government provided assistance to the bank during the Great Recession.  Charlotte Observer SEC investigating insider-trading at Medicare agency -- The Securities & Exchange Commission is investigating whether employees at the...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - September 23, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team SEC fines Wells Fargo Advisors -- The $5 million dollar fine is in response to a Wells Fargo broker using private customer data to make stock trades.  Washington Post Joseph Gordon-Leavitt to play Snowden? -- The actor is apparently in talks to play Edward Snowden in an upcoming Oliver Stone movie detailing Snowden’s path from blowing the whistle to asylum in Russia.  NME San Francisco woman...

The Billion-Dollar Mortgage Fraud Club – New Members Welcome!

By Gordon Schnell Apparently, Bank of America is close to inking a deal with the government under which it would pay about $17 billion to settle charges of its mortgage machinations in the run-up to the financial crisis.  If finalized, BofA would be just the latest big bank to cement its membership in the Billion Dollar Mortgage Fraud Club.  Some of the other major banks that make up this elite assemblage,...

Whistleblower News from the Inside - January 21, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Big banks to stop “payday” loans – Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Fifth Third and other major banks will exit the small dollar, short-term, high-interest loan business after regulators warned they would look into whether these payday-like loans violate consumer protection laws.  CNN A whistleblower’s wish for Edward Snowden – Former government whistleblower calls on Snowden to return to US and stand trial to send...

Sniffing Out the Fraudsters Through Their Email -- The Latest Sleuthing Tool for Uncovering Corporate Fraud

By Gordon Schnell  It is part and parcel of virtually every government investigation these days.  Rummaging through mountains of emails in search of those "smoking gun" exchanges where the wrongdoers openly detail, if not brazenly boast about, the fraud or misconduct in which they are partaking.  These emails are always there.  No matter how sophisticated or savvy the schemer.  And they typically serve as Exhibit One to the government's ultimate...