Importance of Whistleblowers

Do Not Harass Whistleblowers: UBS Pays 75,000 Euro Fine for Harassing Former Employees Who Reported Tax Fraud

French whistleblowers and tax evasion are taken seriously. On March 9, a French court ordered the Swiss bank, UBS, to pay a 75,000 euro fine for psychologically harassing two people who blew the whistle on an arrangement that enabled wealthy French clients to avoid taxes. The French court’s decision concludes a 15-year-long legal battle. UBS Europe absorbed its French subsidiary and has agreed to pay 50,000 euros...

Fines for Fails: Germany and More EU Countries Face Fines for Failing to Protect Whistleblowers

The European Union is drawing attention to the importance of whistleblowers and the safeguards countries must adopt to encourage reporting violations of law. On March 6, the EU Court of Justice fined five countries for their lack of rules protecting whistleblowers, who are critical sources in revealing fraud, data breaches, tax evasion, and other misconduct. The fines break down as follows: 34 million euros to...

A “Unique Status and Mission” Indeed: Judge Ruled Trump’s Firing of Federal Whistleblower Agency’s Leader was Unlawful

As we previously reported in February, President Donald Trump attempted to fire the Office of Special Counsel’s head of the federal whistleblower agency, Hampton Dellinger. He immediately sued Trump for unlawful removal, and on Saturday, March 1, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled in Dellinger’s favor, granting him a temporary stay at his post. Judge Jackson held that the president’s removal of...

Grassley to Trump and DOJ: We Want Whistleblowers

For the past forty years, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has been universally recognized as one of the strongest whistleblower champions in Congress.  He is the architect of the modern-day False Claims Act -- which allows whistleblowers to sue fraudsters on behalf of the government -- spiriting through key amendments to increase the whistleblower incentives and protections under the statute.  He has been...

Top 10 Most Fascinating Whistleblower Stories and Recoveries of 2024

We’re rolling out our slew of Top-10 lists covering whistleblower cases, government enforcement actions, and recoveries from 2024. Over the past year, we engaged with a vast number of interesting topics, government updates, and fraud settlements originated by whistleblowers, several represented by Constantine Cannon. As we look back at 2024, we’ve gathered some of the most fascinating whistleblower news and...

DOJ's False Claims Act Roundup for FY 2024 -- Another Banner Year for the Government and Whistleblowers

The Department of Justice (DOJ) just released its False Claims Act results for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024.  By all accounts, it has been another banner year for whistleblowers and the government in their efforts to combat fraud and recover pilfered taxpayer dollars. First, the overarching numbers for the year:

• • The government and whistleblowers recovered roughly $2.9 billion in False...

Singapore Post Terminated Three Executives Over Mishandling Whistleblower’s Allegations

On December 22, Singapore Post announced it terminated three individuals including the CEO and two senior executives following an internal investigation that determined the company mishandled allegations about employees’ misconduct in business operations. According to Reuters, a whistleblower came forward with complaints about several workers in the company’s international e-commerce logistics parcels business....

Lead-Tainted Applesauce Marketed for Children Bypasses Overstretched FDA Testing Protocols

The NY Times reports that hundreds of children were poisoned last year from cinnamon-flavored applesauce pouches that were traced to the Ecuadorian company Negasmart, which supplies to Austrofood and distributes the product under the name Wanabana.  The FDA, working with Ecuadorean investigators, traced the contamination of the Sri Lankan imported cinnamon to a spice grinder in Ecuador that likely intentionally...

DOJ Releases False Claims Act Results for 2023

The Department of Justice (DOJ) just released its False Claims Act results for 2023.  By all accounts, it was another big year for the government's primary fraud-fighting tool.  The top-line numbers are roughly $2.7 billion in total recoveries from 543 settlements and judgments, the highest number of settlements and judgments in a single year.  This brings the total tally of False Claims Act recoveries to more than...

Vatican Puts Out the Call for Whistleblowers

The Vatican wants to hear from whistleblowers.  This comes from the Vatican's recent release of a new Whistleblower Procedure, which outlines the Vatican's official enlistment of Church insiders to help keep the Holy House in order when it comes to financial fraud and corruption.  According to a post in Vatican News, the official news portal of the Vatican Holy See, the new procedure, which took effect last week...