In Their Own Words -- Fata
Posted 07/13/15
Whistleblower Insider Blog
Whistleblower Insider is written by the Constantine Cannon law firm team of experienced qui tam and whistleblower lawyers. It is updated regularly to provide the latest whistleblower and fraud news and developments.
Whistleblower News From The Inside — July 13, 2015
Posted 07/13/15
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Prosecutors go after fraud at Veterans Affairs – One case involves a VA employee taking more than $1.2 million in kickbacks; another involves an employee who stole gravestones from a cemetery to floor his garage. Washington Post
Time to modernize the nursing home system – Officials intend to make sweeping changes to the rules that nursing homes must follow in order to...
IRS Releases Another Report on Whistleblower Program
Posted 07/10/15
By Jason Enzler
The Internal Revenue Service just released its annual report to Congress regarding its whistleblower program – and it reveals a program that at first blush is just as disappointing as it was last year. In fact, a comparison of the two years suggests that the IRS whistleblower program may even have become less effective than it was previously.
For example, in FY 2013, the IRS received over...
In Their Own Words -- Tillipman
Posted 07/10/15
-- “Let’s be clear about one thing: Chuck Blazer is not a whistleblower. And more importantly, the media’s haphazard use of this term to describe Blazer is a disservice to the brave individuals that may legitimately be deemed ‘whistleblowers.’"
-- Jessica Tillipman, Senior Editor of the FCPA Blog and Assistant Dean at The George Washington University Law School. Click here for more.Whistleblower News From The Inside -- July 10, 2015
Posted 07/10/15
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Stop calling Chuck Blazer a whistleblower -- Chuck Blazer didn’t voluntarily approach the government or media about the corrupt activities of his former colleagues – he only turned his back on FIFA when he had no other options, which makes him a cooperating witness, not a whistleblower. FCPA Blog
Secret plan to kill Wisconsin whistleblower law? -- Apparently Wisconsin...
Ninth Circuit Victory For Whistleblowers In Narrowing "Public Disclosure" And "First-To-File" Bars To Bringing Qui Tam Actions
Posted 07/10/15
In a major victory for whistleblowers, the Ninth Circuit in United States ex rel. Hartpence v. Kinetic Concepts, Inc. narrowed the reach of two significant bars to bringing qui tam lawsuits under the False Claims Act. Under the so-called "public disclosure" bar, the Ninth Circuit reversed its own precedent and ruled the "original source" exception to the bar does not require the whistleblower to have played a role...
DOJ Catch of The Week -- AstraZeneca And Cephalon
Posted 07/10/15
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
This week's Department of Justice "catch of the week" goes to AstraZeneca LP and Cephalon Inc. On Monday, each of these pharmaceutical companies agreed to settle charges they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying rebates they owed under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. AstraZeneca agreed to pay $46.5 million with roughly $26.7 million going to the United...
Have We Reached the Final Round In the Government's Tuomey Kickback Case?
Posted 07/10/15
The United States won another round in its now almost eight year battle to hold South Carolina-based Tuomey Healthcare System liable for paying doctors illegal kickbacks. The litigation has been long and procedurally complex, but at bottom, the Government has alleged, and the jury has found, that Tuomey gave a group of doctors unreasonably lucrative employment arrangements to get them to send their patients to...
In Their Own Words -- McCormack
Posted 07/9/15
-- “[Long term care facility] Administrators should be asking hard questions about any financial incentives the pharmacist or their employer may have to promote one drug over another,” McCormack told McKnight's on Tuesday. “Depending on the long-term care facility's financial and operational relationship with the outside pharmacy, there is some risk that the facility could be exposed to liability under the False...
Whistleblower News from the Inside -- July 9, 2015
Posted 07/9/15
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
A third of UK businesses still haven’t heard of the Bribery Act -- A survey by the UK Government found that only two-thirds of small and medium sized businesses had heard of the 2010 Bribery Act, which imposes liability on companies for failure to prevent international bribery. HM Government
Omnicare will settle with DOJ in Depakote kickback case -- Omnicare announced it...