Whistleblower Insider Blog

SEC Hits Crypto Firm BlockFi with $100 Million in Penalties

Posted 02/22/22

The SEC recently announced cryptocurrency financial institution BlockFi agreed to pay $100 million to resolve charges it violated securities laws. Half the penalties will go to the SEC, and the other half will go to 32 states that brought similar charges. The settlement represents the largest recorded penalties the Commission has ever imposed on a crypto firm. It also sends a clear message the SEC will not shy away...

Tagged in: Cryptocurrency, Financial and Investment Fraud, Securities Fraud,

Attention Auto Safety whistleblowers: Elon Musk wants you to “Blow the Whistle on Tesla!”

Posted 02/11/22

Lioness listed the above NFT artwork “Blow the Whistle” by London-based artist Jason Measures for auction here in tandem with its publication of the story of SpaceX whistleblower Ashley Kosak.

Earlier this year, Constantine Cannon whistleblower partners Mary Inman and Poppy Alexander teamed up with Ariella Steinhorn and Amber Scorah, principals of the exciting new media venture Lioness, to expose how Elon...

Tagged in: Auto Safety, CC Lawyers, Importance of Whistleblowers, Whistleblower Eligibility,

Top Ten Environmental Fraud Recoveries of 2021

Posted 02/11/22

This year’s environmental fraud Top Ten list includes enforcement actions against automakers, oil and pipeline companies, metal producers and recyclers, energy companies, and serial offender Monsanto. We didn’t see as many blockbuster settlements in 2021 as we did in 2020, despite the Biden administration signaling its focus on environmental fraud as an enforcement priority. Nonetheless, the 2021 enforcement...

Tagged in: Environmental Fraud, Top 10,

Catch of the Week: A Tale of Two Cons

Posted 02/10/22

The start of February 2022 brought resolutions in two different COVID-19 fraud cases, one in the Paycheck Protection Program and one in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. Both involved scammers with previous criminal records who fraudulently obtained COVID relief money. The Department of Justice continues to prioritize enforcement against fraudsters who take advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program,...

Tagged in: Catch of the Week, COVID-19, Criminal Proceedings, FCA Federal, Government Programs Fraud,

On NFTs, Treasury Comes Out Swinging

Posted 02/8/22

The Treasury Department recently issued a Report on money laundering in the art markets. To no one’s surprise, Treasury found the art market to be an “attractive” one for money launderers, given the “the high-dollar values,” “ease of transportability,” “long-standing culture of privacy,” and “increasing use of art as an investment or financial asset.” When Congress mandated the report back in...

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Money Laundering,

Precious Metals, Costly Fraud

Posted 02/4/22

Safeguard Metals LLC and its principal, Jeffrey Santulan a/k/a Jeffrey Hill were hit with multiple enforcement actions this week, alleging fraud in their sale of securities and commodities to investors they targeted to sell their existing securities and invest the proceeds into gold and silver coins. The CFTC and 27 state security regulatory agencies jointly filed one action, and the SEC filed its own action. Both...

Tagged in: Financial and Investment Fraud, Fraud in CFTC-Regulated Markets, Misrepresentations, Securities Fraud,

Catch of the Week: Feds Shut The Door on an Uncommon Fraud Scheme involving New York Indigent Care Pool

Posted 02/3/22

The Southern District of New York announced a $12.9 million settlement with healthcare provider The Door, which provided services to uninsured youth for which it received reimbursement from New York State’s Indigent Care Pool. The settlement demonstrates the importance of whistleblowers, including the two that brought this case and stand to share in up to 25% of what the government collected, in helping to shut...

Tagged in: Catch of the Week, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Provider Fraud,

DOJ Announces $5.7 Billion in FCA Recoveries in Fiscal Year 2021, with Boost from Purdue Settlement Claim

Posted 02/2/22

DOJ has released its annual announcement of recoveries in civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government, and the total recoveries are eye-popping: $5.65 billion in settlements and judgments. These recoveries make FY2021 the second largest year in False Claims Act history, and the largest since 2014. As in prior years, healthcare fraud dominated, with more than $5 billion of the total...

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Government Procurement Fraud, Healthcare Fraud, Importance of Whistleblowers, Managed Care, Statistics,

2021 Whistleblower of the Year Goes to... Reality Winner

Posted 02/1/22

The results are in, and Constantine Cannon’s 2021 Whistleblower of the Year award goes to Reality Winner. She is the former military contractor who publicly released a top-secret NSA intelligence report about Russia’s attempt to infiltrate the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. For doing so, Winner was ordered to serve the longest sentence (five years and three months) ever imposed for disclosing classified...

Tagged in: Whistleblower of the Year,

Catch of the Week: Texas Hospice CEO Gets 13 Year Sentence in $60 Million Fraud Scheme

Posted 01/28/22

A federal judge in Texas sentenced Bradley Harris, former head of Novus Health Services, Inc. hospice company in Frisco, to more than thirteen years in prison and ordered him to pay $27.6 million in restitution. The sentence, announced in a DOJ press release, follows his guilty plea on charges of conspiracy and fraud on Medicare and Medicaid. Harris is the latest to be sentenced in a fraud scheme spanning...

Tagged in: Catch of the Week, Government Programs Fraud, Healthcare Fraud, Home Health and Hospice, Improper Medical Facility, Improper Medical Personnel, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicaid, Medicare,

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