Whistleblower News From The Inside -- October 20, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Eighth Circuit revives FCA suit against for-profit college – The Eighth Circuit overturned a lower court ruling and revived for the second time a whistleblower’s FCA suit alleging Heritage College falsified student records to maintain eligibility for federal aid money. The court, citing Escobar, concluded the health care training school’s falsifications were material to the government’s payment. Inside Higher Ed California whistleblower’s actions lead...

In Their Own Words -- Guitron

-- “Now I know that nothing happened with my complaint. It just sat on someone’s desk.  At the time, I didn’t know. But I was certainly trusting that everyone was doing what they were supposed to do. And they didn’t.” Former Wells Fargo employee Yesenia Guitron commenting on how the government treated her whistleblower complaint revealing the bank’s phony bank account scheme.

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- October 19, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Former OSHA investigator says government failed to investigate Wells Fargo whistleblower complaints – Darrell Whitman, a former investigator for the agency’s Whistleblower Protection Program, has alleged that two Wells Fargo employees filed complaints with OSHA in 2010 regarding the bank’s phony bank account scheme but the government failed to investigate.  NBC Bay Area Over 80% of Medicare funds payed to chiropractors were for unnecessary...

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- October 14, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Five firms fined $825K for school construction fraud -- NYAG Eric T. Schneiderman announced settlement agreements with five Rochester-area companies that falsely claimed to meet state diversity requirements in order to win and maintain contracts on the $1.2 billion Rochester Schools Modernization Program. The settlement agreements were reached with Concord Electric Company; Michael A. Ferrauilo Plumbing & Heating, Inc.; Manning Squires Hennig Co., Inc.;...

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- October 13, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Former nursing home chain executives indicted over $16M of fraud – Four individual employees of Indiana nursing home chain American Senior Communities, including the former CEO and COO, were indicted for their role in a fraud, kickback, and money laundering scheme. The suspects allegedly spent their ill-gotten gains on vacation cottages, golf, Rolexes, gold, and gambling. USAO Southern District of Indiana Vermont lab settles...

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- October 12, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team SEC announces results of enforcement efforts for 2016 – The agency filed a record-breaking 868 enforcement actions this past fiscal year.  SEC Wells Fargo knew about fraudulent accounts for over a decade – Whistleblowers at the bank began reporting as early as 2005 how employees were setting up sham accounts and forging customers signatures.  The New York Times Biodiesel executives to plead guilty in...

Whistleblower News From the Inside -- September 30, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Casino-gaming company IGT to pay fine for retaliating against whistleblower -- International Game Technology has agreed to pay a $500,000 penalty for firing an employee for telling the SEC that the casino-gaming company's financial statements might be distorted.  The SEC said the employee was removed from significant work assignments within weeks of raising concerns about the company's cost accounting model.  Reuters Three senators ask...

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- September 28, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team CDC Whistleblower Claims Agency has been Using Wrong Zika Test – Robert Lanciotti, one of the leading experts on Zika virus claims that the CDC is using a less effective test for Zika infections. Lanciotti raised concerns in May when the CDC was mulling changing the test and was demoted after raising his concerns. Lanciotti claims the alternate test misses nearly forty percent of...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — September 27, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team The world needs whistleblowers -- "The United Nations should embrace whistleblowing in order to prevent more systemic failures."  US News  Weatherford Int'l to pay $140M SEC penalty -- The SEC charged the company with inflating earnings by using deceptive income tax accounting.  SEC Andrew Cuomo and the corruption of Albany -- "Through many years and scandals, the power structure in Albany has proved to...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — September 23, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Whistleblower lawsuit accusing Tier-1 carriers of overcharging California moves forward --  The lawsuit alleges that Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile ignored two cost-saving clauses included in the master contracts used by California’s state and local governments – overcharging the government customers by more than $100 million.  The clauses require carriers to tell government customers which rate plans would result in the lowest cost and...