Top Ten Financial and Healthcare Fraud Prison Sentences of 2019

Financial and healthcare fraud schemes can result not just in civil investigations and liability, but also in prison time for the individuals involved.  In 2019, the Department of Justice obtained substantial prison sentences in numerous cases involving healthcare and financial frauds, helping to bring justice to the patients, investors, or individuals harmed by criminal fraudsters.  Many of the fraudulent schemes involved in these convictions are of the type that whistleblowers report, and whistleblowers can...

Question of the Week: How Badly do you Want to Stop Animal Trafficking?

Last week, the Department of Justice indicted a New York man, Christopher Casacci, for illegally importing and selling dozens of African wild cats.  Doing business as “ExoticCubs.com,” Casacci brought into the United States and sold dozens of caracals (Caracal caracal) and servals (Leptailurus serval). Caracals, known as the “desert lynx,” are wild cats native to Africa, and grow to approximately 45 pounds. Servals, also wild cats native to Africa, grow...

December 19, 2019

The CFTC will pay a $1 million award to an anonymous whistleblower.  The CFTC stated that the whistleblower first provided the information through their employer's internal compliance program to another regulator, and subsequently provided the information directly to the CFTC.  Furthermore, the CFTC stated that the whistleblower was eligible for the award even though they did not identify the exact wrongdoing ultimately charged by the CFTC, because the whistleblower's information...

Constantine Cannon Names Three New Partners

Constantine Cannon LLP is pleased to announce that Azmina Jasani, David Golden and Michael Ronickher have been named partner at the firm. Jasani’s practice is based out of the London office, and Golden and Ronickher work in the firm’s Washington, D.C. Richard Aborn, Managing Partner of Constantine Cannon said: “I am proud to see David. Azmina and Michael promoted to partnership. As individuals, their practices have flourished, and they have...

Constantine Cannon Law School Scholarship

Essay Writing Contest - The Importance of Whistleblowers Who Can Enter Participants must be accepted to, or currently enrolled in an accredited US law school. What You Can Win First Place: $2,500 Second Place: $1,000 Third Place: $750 Fourth Place: $500 Fifth Place: $250 Winning essays will also be featured on our Whistleblower Insider blog visited by more than 10,000 readers a month. Application Deadline You must submit your essay...

July 1, 2019

Two whistleblowers have been jointly awarded $2 million for their significant contributions to the CFTC.  In addition to coming forward and providing numerous interviews and documents, the whistleblowers also reported the violations to another agency, which conducted its own investigation and shared its findings with the CFTC.  CFTC

June 24, 2019

The CFTC announced that a single whistleblower has been awarded $2.5 million.  Though the award was still substantial, according to the CFTC, it had been reduced due to an unreasonable delay in reporting the violations to the CFTC.  CFTC

Cryptocurrency Fraud

Cryptocurrencies, often referred to as virtual currencies or tokens, are quite different from typical currencies such as dollars or euros. Instead of being issued and backed by a government or central bank, cryptocurrencies are digital assets secured by cryptography that can be used as a medium of exchange. Their  validity is typically provided by a blockchain system with an open, distributed ledger recording transactions. While different forms of cryptocurrencies have...

May 6, 2019

The CFTC announced it awarded $1.5 million to a single whistleblower. According to the CFTC’s press release, the award related to both a CFTC action and a related action brought by another federal regulator, and, per program rules, was between 10-30% of the amount the government recovered. CFTC

The Latest on Cryptocurrency, Offshore Tax Avoidance and Money-Laundering, and Whistleblowing: A Report from OffshoreAlert Miami 2019

“A diverse collection of the hunters and the hunted.” That’s how the Wall Street Journal described the OffshoreAlert Conference in 2009. The 2019 conference was no different, bringing together those who work in the offshore industry, the government enforcers who try to stop the unscrupulous among them, and the asset recovery professionals who pursue lost funds. Alongside them were whistleblowers and their lawyers, who play a huge role in exposing...