Whistleblower News From The Inside -- September 2, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Monsanto Whistleblower Targets Deloitte – Attorneys for SEC whistleblower who was recently awarded $22.4 million have named Montsanto as the whistleblower’s employer.  In doing so, the whistleblower hopes to put pressure on the company’s external auditor, Deloitte, for failing to put a stop to the fraud.  Financial Times CFTC Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Whistleblower Rule Amendments – The CFTC proposed a number of...

Whistleblower News From The Insider -- August 31, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Baltimore retailers charged with $16 million food stamp trafficking scheme – 14 retailers allegedly engaged in a scheme to defraud the government by paying customers cash for food stamp cards at a discount and pocketing the excess value of the cards.  Baltimore Sun Mother and child reunion . . . in prison? – Niurka Fernandez and her son, Roberto Alvarez, pleaded guilty to conspiring...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — August 25, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Hospitals settle NY FCA case for $2.95M – Three Mt. Sinai Health System hospitals resolved allegations they knowingly retained over $844K in Medicaid overpayments; the whistleblower who initially brought the suit will receive $354K. NY Attorney General's Office Online public school founder admits to $8M in tax fraud – Nicholas Trombetta, founder and former CEO of an online public school that educates thousands of...

August 9, 2016

John Bennett, the former chief executive at Bennett Environmental Inc., a Canada-based company that treats and disposes of contaminated soil, was sentenced to serve 63 months in prison and pay roughly $3.8 million in restitution in connection with the payment of kickbacks to obtain subcontracts at a New Jersey Superfund site overseen by the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers.  According to court documents, Bennett conspired with others at Bennett...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — August 11, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team 8 Floridians charged in $157M compounding pharmacy fraud – Eight Floridians are accused of submitting false claims by prescribing medication tainted by illegal kickbacks and bribes and misrepresenting the ingredients in compounded prescriptions. DOJ South Korean Novartis AG executives charged with bribery – Six former and current Novartis executives in the company’s Korean unit were indicted for allegedly paying more than $2M to doctors...

Record Period for Whistleblower Recoveries

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team We are supposed to be in the lazy days of summer.  But it has been anything but in the world of whistleblower recoveries under the False Claims Act.  This is the statute that allows whistleblowers to (i) bring a lawsuit on the government’s behalf for any fraud or misconduct that caused the government to suffer a financial loss, and (ii) obtain between 15 and...

August 5, 2016

A series of anesthesia businesses collectively known as Sweet Dreams Nurse Anesthesia agreed to pay roughly $1 million to settle charges they violated the False Claims Act, Anti-Kickback Statute and Georgia False Medicaid Claims Act by paying unlawful kickbacks to health care providers for referrals.  According to the government, one alleged scheme involved Sweet Dreams’ provision of free anesthesia drugs to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) in exchange for granting Sweet...

June 16, 2016

The SEC announced charges against Christopher Salis, former global vice president at SAP America, for receiving thousands of dollars in kickbacks for tipping Douglas Miller in advance of SAP’s impending acquisition of Concur Technologies.  Miller then tipped his brother, Edward Miller, and mutual friend, Barrett Biehl, as they rushed to open online brokerage accounts and make risky, short-term trades in Concur call options so they could profit substantially when the...

July 25, 2016

Florida announced the arrests of three individuals for operating a $1 billion Medicare and Medicaid fraud scheme involving numerous Miami-based health care providers. Attorney General Bondi’s MFCU, as part of the HEAT Strike Force, assisted in identifying more than $100 million of Medicaid fraud in connection to this scheme. According to the indictment, Philip Esformes, 47, operated a network of more than 30 skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — July 22, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team $1 billion dollar bust in Medicare fraud and money laundering scheme --  Three people are charged with operating a huge Medicare and Medicaid fraud scheme in which the owner of a network of over 30 skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities and two co-conspirators are charged with admitting beneficiaries who have no medical need for services, paying kickbacks to referring doctors, and billing...