Beware of Salty Snacks and Candy Containing THC

Beware of Salty Snacks and Candy Containing THC

On Wednesday (July 5), the FTC and FDA jointly issued cease and desist letters to several companies selling various food products containing THC, the key psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.  In announcing the enforcement action, the government made it clear the problem is not the sale of these products.  It is how they are selling them, which according to the agencies is in almost identical packaging to many snacks and candy...

Expanded Connecticut State False Claims Act is Win for Whistleblowers

Whistleblowers take note: the Connecticut State False Claims Act (CT FCA) has been significantly expanded beyond healthcare fraud claims. Historically, the CT FCA was limited to fraud on Medicaid and other programs within health and human services. The amended statute now reaches fraud across a variety of sectors, such as government contracting, education, employment, immigration, housing, mortgage and insurance fraud, among others (excluding tax fraud). The amendments, which took effect July...

Survey Says . . . Whistleblowers Are Key to Global Compliance

A crucial component of any business is managing compliance risk.  An effective compliance program must include a clear and transparent path for whistleblowers to report risk while mitigating fears of retaliation.  These are the key take-aways in this year’s 2023 Global compliance risk benchmark survey by KPMG and White & Case.¹ Based on the opinions of 201 senior decision-makers across 34 countries, the survey offers insights into the strategies companies...

After 12 Years of Litigation, Constantine Cannon Settles the Largest Iraq War Fraud Case Ever

In the largest settlement of a case alleging fraud during the Iraq War, KBR Services has agreed to pay $108.75 million to resolve a whistleblower case brought by two Constantine Cannon clients under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  The settlement followed 12 years of litigation, during which KBR and its lawyers fought every step of the way. While the size and scope alone make the settlement...

Scoundrel Spotlight - Eric Goldstein

This week's Scoundrel In the Spotlight is Eric Goldstein, the former head of the New York City Department of Education (DOE) Office of School Support Services.  Last Wednesday (June 28), a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted him -- along with the three founders of the SOMMA Food Group -- for bribery and extortion relating to the New York City school lunch program.  According to the DOJ press release announcing the...

July 6, 2023

Emerson Sousa Pires and Flavio Mendes Goncalves, who together operated a purported hedge fund called EmpiresX, has been ordered to pay over $32 million in disgorgement, over $2 million in prejudgment interest, and civil penalties of $6 million and $5 million, respectively.  The two men sold investments by assuring investors that a trading “bot,” or skilled manual trading, guaranteed daily profits of 1%.  In reality, the bot was fake, the...

CFTC Targets Cybersecurity and Environmental Fraud

Last week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the creation of two new task forces.  One is the Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies Task Force, to address fraud relating to cybersecurity and other emerging technologies.  The other is the Environmental Fraud Task Force, to go after environmental fraud and misconduct in derivatives and relevant spot markets.  The CFTC is the federal agency charged with enforcing the Commodities Exchange Act, which...

July 6, 2023

Shipping company Clipper Shipping A.S. has been sentenced to pay $1.5 million after admitting that its ship, Motor Tanker (M/T) Clipper Saturn discharged oily bilge water directly overboard while anchored outside Togo, and omitted mention of it from its Oil Record Book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.  The ship was required to filter out hazardous elements before disposing of the water at sea.  DOJ

KBR - Procurement Fraud/Defense ($108.75 million)

Constantine Cannon represented two whistleblowers in a False Claims Act case alleging defense contractor KBR Services overcharged the government in procuring supplies for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.  In July 2023, KBR agreed to pay $108.75 million to settle the matter, which amounted to the largest settlement involving Iraq War fraud ever.  Our clients received a whistleblower award of $31.5 million.  Read more -- Houston Chronicle, PR Newswire, CC.

Iraq War Whistleblowers Represented by Constantine Cannon Secure $108.75 Million Settlement with KBR

The settlement represents the largest recovery to date related to the Iraq War. NEW YORK, NY, July 5, 2023. Two whistleblowers have announced that a 12-year litigation with KBR Services has been settled for $108.75 million, the largest cash settlement ever obtained in connection with Iraq War fraud. Filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, the lawsuit by former KBR employees Geoffrey Howard and Zella Hemphill...