Whistleblower News From The Inside — April 27, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Congress to hold hearing tomorrow on False Claims Act – The hearing  on proposals to amend the False Claims Act – such as requiring whistleblowers to report internally before disclosing fraud to the government – will be held at 4 pm eastern tomorrow; live streaming will be available at the following website: House of Representatives, Judiciary Committee Pfizer and Wyeth to pay $784 million...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — April 19, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Theranos under criminal investigation -- Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into whether the blood-testing company misled investors about the state of its technology and operations.  WSJ The latest pro-biking scandal: mechanical doping? -- "Some cunning cyclists may be turning the sport into Nascar on two wheels by surreptitiously giving their bikes a motorized boost."  NYT Food workers receive whistleblower protections -- Under...

April 5, 2016

Mohammad Rafiq, owner of Detroit-area home health care agency Perfect Home Health Care, was sentenced to 57 months in prison and to pay roughly $3.5 million in restitution (and forfeit the same amount) for his role in a $3.4 million health care fraud scheme.  According to admissions made as part of his plea agreement, Rafiq paid physicians and recruiters to refer Medicare beneficiaries to Perfect and sign medical documents falsely...

April 1, 2016

Carlos Rodriguez Nerey, a patient recruiter for several Miami-area home health agencies, was convicted for his role in a fraud and kickback scheme that resulted in the submission of millions of dollars in fraudulent claims to Medicare.  According to evidence presented at trial, Nerey claimed to work at a staffing company called Sweet Life Staffing Inc. but was in fact a patient recruiter for D&D&D Home Health Inc. and Mercy...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — April 4, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team With Leak Of 'Panama Papers,' A Glimpse Of World's Fiscal Underbelly -- Over 11 million records have been leaked from a law firm based in Panama, shedding light on the flow of dark money in the global financial system and on the offshore holdings of a dozen former and current world leaders. NPR How Reporters Pulled Off the Panama Papers, the Biggest Leak in...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — March 30, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Detroit's schools crumbled while officials allegedly took bribes -- The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan has filed a complaint charging Detroit school officials with taking almost $1 million in bribes and kickbacks from a contractor that was supposed to fix the ailing schools.  Washington Post S.E.C. backs Vanguard whistleblower -- The Securities & Exchange Commission filed court papers arguing that a...

March 9, 2016

Florida man Jay Y. Fung has agreed to pay $760,000 to settle charges by the SEC that he traded on inside information by purchasing stock and call options in Pharmasset Inc. based on a friend’s tip that it was about to be acquired.  The SEC previously charged Fung’s friend and tipper, Kevin Dowd, who has agreed to pay back the cash kickbacks he received from Fung and has pled guilty...

March 25, 2016

Damian Mayol, the president of Miami-based transportation company Transportation Services Providers Inc. was sentenced to 60 months in prison and to pay $26.8 million in restitution (and forfeit the same amount) for his role in a health care fraud scheme involving three mental health centers that resulted in the submission of approximately $70 million in false Medicare claims.  According to evidence presented at trial, Mayol and his co-conspirators used his...

March 23, 2016

Pennsylvania-based Respironics Inc. agreed to pay $34.8 million to resolve charges it violated the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute by paying kickbacks in the form of free call center services to durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers that bought its masks for patients with sleep apnea.  Respironics allegedly provided DME companies with call center services to meet their patients’ resupply needs at no charge as long as the patients were...

March 21, 2016

Florida audiologist Terri L. Schneider was sentenced to 94 months in prison and to pay $2.5 million in restitution for her role in a multimillion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme. According to evidence presented at trial, Schneider and her co-conspirators used three purported medical clinics in Florida -- Cornerstone Health Specialists, Summit Health Specialists and Coastal Health Specialists -- to submit approximately $12.3 million in false Medicare claims...