Contact

Click here for a confidential contact or call:

1-212-350-2774

Government Programs Fraud

This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to fraud in government programs. You may also be interested in the following pages:

Fraud in Government Programs
Whistleblower Home Page

Page 11 of 12

December 18, 2019

Abhijit Prasad was sentenced to 3 years in prison following his conviction for visa fraud and related charges.  Prasad submitted 19 applications for H-1B visas for individuals he claimed would be performing work for Cisco Systems although Cisco had no expectation that the foreign workers would perform work for them and, in some cases, Prasad submitted forged documents purporting to be from Cisco.  Prasad was also ordered to forfeit $1.9 million.  USAO ED Cal; USAO ND Cal

EU, UK, and Canadian Whistleblowers Receive New or Enhanced Protections

Posted  12/5/19
By Ginger Buck
Silver Whistle Hanging
Three recent international developments have occurred that will further enable and encourage whistleblowers to report alleged wrongdoing, and provide guidance for employers and organizations to respond to such complaints. The European Union formally adopted a whistleblower protection directive on September 25, 2019, requiring organizations with 50 or more workers to establish internal reporting channels over the...

December 4, 2019

A small for-profit college and manager accused of defrauding the G.I. Bill program has agreed to pay $120,000 to resolve their liability under the False Claims Act.  New Horizons Spokane and its general manager, Spirit Dorris, admitted to failing to comply with a VA requirement that limited the enrollment of students funded by the G.I. Bill to no more than 85% of any given course. The “85/15 Rule,” as it is known, is meant to ensure that educational courses are offered because of public interest and value and not solely to take advantage of VA funding.  USAO EDWA

November 8, 2019

Two New York City real estate development companies, Mica Gabe Brooklyn LLC and Brooklyn Warehouse 180 LLC, will pay $3 million to resolve claims that they secured a New York tax break, Section 421-a, by falsely stating that building service employees would be paid prevailing wages when, in fact, employees hired at the buildings were paid less than the wages required by law.  The $3 million settlement consists of $2.5 million in damages under Section 421-a and the New York False Claims Act, and $415,000 in back wages.  The investigation was initiated with the filing of a whistleblower complaint under the NY FCA by local union 32BJ SEIU, which will receive a portion of the damages as a whistleblower reward.  NY

November 1, 2019

A New York-based painting contractor has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a suit alleging it misrepresented compliance with Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) rules in connection with two federally funded construction projects.  The False Claims Act violations involved Ahern Painting Contractors Co., which was contractually required to hire DBE subcontractors to perform renovation work on the Brooklyn Bridge and Queens Plaza.  However, Ahern hired a non-DBE, Spectrum Painting Corp., and repeatedly submitted false statements to the government that represented the work was done by a real DBE, Tower Maintenance Corp.  USAO SDNY

New York Poised to Become One of Most Whistleblower-Friendly Places

Posted  10/17/19
Child Looking Through Telescope of New York Building
As anonymous whistleblowers make national headlines daily, so do the attacks on their integrity and calls to reveal their identity. In order to combat the chilling effect on the courageous individuals who report fraud or misconduct, New Yorkers—both at the state and city level—are doubling down on whistleblower protections and encouraging observers of corruption to come forward. Lat week, New York Attorney...

August 13, 2019

Classic Site Solutions, Inc. (CSS), a Massachusetts-based construction management company, and owner Cheryl Sady, have agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle allegations that CSS’s conduct between 2009 and 2015 violated the False Claims Act.  In order to access government contracts set aside for companies located in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones), CSS and Sady allegedly submitted false statements to the Small Business Administration (SBA) indicating their principal office was located in a HUBZone, which allowed them to fraudulently bid on and win contracts worth millions of dollars.  USAO CT

Question of the Week — Will Healthcare Settlements Continue to Dominate False Claims Act Recoveries?

Posted  07/24/19
Recent blockbuster settlements continue past trends: healthcare fraud has so far this year dominated FCA recoveries. During the first half of 2019, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) secured over $750 million in settlements from False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases. And just past the mid-year point, total recoveries have nearly doubled due to a $700 million civil settlement ($1.4 billion total) entered on July 11th...

How Businesses Can Use Whistleblower Reward Laws to Stop Unfair Competition

Posted  07/22/19
Runner in track race starting before other racers
Most anyone can be a whistleblower. The role is not limited to the corporate insider or company employee at the meeting, on the conference call or in receipt of the email or text message where the “smoking-gun” evidence of fraud or misconduct is disclosed. Whistleblowers can be any person, or an entity, with non-public information about fraudulent conduct giving rise to a whistleblower claim.  Often, businesses...

Catch of the Week — Overstock.com Ordered to Pay $7.27M in Whistleblower’s Unused Gift Card Case

Posted  07/12/19
overstsock.com website logo
In a final order made public this week, a Delaware judge ordered internet retailer Overstock.com to pay $7.27 million in treble damages and civil penalties for failing to report and transfer to the state nearly $3 million in unredeemed gift card balances.
Update, July, 2020: Interpreting the Delaware False Claims Act, on June 26, 2020, the Delaware Supreme Court issued an order reversing the judgment of the trial...
1 9 10 11 12