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Importance of Whistleblowers

This archive displays posts addressing or illustrating the importance of whistleblowers. You may also be interested in the following pages:

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SEC Starts 2020 with Almost $12 million in Whistleblower Awards

Posted  04/9/20
Business sign saying "Come In We're Open" in white on blue background
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the SEC whistleblower program is very much open for business: the SEC has announced seven whistleblower awards in the past four months, including an award of over $7 million to a “tenacious” whistleblower who provided extensive and sustained assistance in connection with serious financial abuses despite suffering hardship. Under the program, whistleblowers – regardless of their...

Charges Filed in Shameful COVID-19 and Genetic-Cancer-Screening Test Scam

Posted  04/3/20
doctor-mask
Erik Santos of Braselton, Georgia had run a fraudulent genetic cancer-screening-test scheme for months, then spotted an opportunity capitalize on fear surrounding COVID-19.  According to the criminal complaint, Santos targeted elderly persons to determine if they met certain eligibility requirements for testing under government health-care programs.  He passed the information along to co-conspirator testing...

Whistleblower Protection Caucus Co-Chairs Urge Barr to Establish COVID-19 FCA Task Force

Posted  03/27/20
Whistleblower Reward
Efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States will require potentially trillions of taxpayer dollars.  Given the amount of money involved, and the speed at which the crisis is progressing, Whistleblower Protection Caucus Co-Chairs Congresswomen Jackie Speier (CA-14) and Kathleen M. Rice (NY-4) have sent a letter to Attorney General Barr urging him to establish a nationwide COVID-19 fraud prevention...

Loosening the Rules on Telehealth to Fight Coronavirus May Also Result in New Medicare Fraud Schemes

Posted  03/27/20
doctor-on-phone
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. government is loosening rules on telehealth to make it easier—and safer—for patients to speak to their healthcare providers.  These steps are an important, and necessary, step to curtail the spread of the virus and to facilitate the treatment of infected patients.  But it may also open the door to new telehealth fraud schemes by unscrupulous individuals and...

Congratulations to our First Place Scholarship Winner, Ellen Matheson

Posted  03/20/20
onstantine-cannon-whistleblower-law-school-scholarship
Last September, Constantine Cannon announced a scholarship for law students, to be awarded based on essays addressing the importance of whistleblowers, the whistleblower experience, or whistleblower law and policy.  We announced our five winners in February, and today are pleased to share the first place essay, submitted by Ellen Matheson. Ms. Matheson is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, where she...

The COVID-19 Crisis, Whistleblowers, and the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team

Posted  03/19/20
Soapy hands under running water faucet
As Constantine Cannon announced earlier this week, in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, we have implemented contingency plans to work remotely.  While our work locations have changed, we remain dedicated to our whistleblower clients, and our team continues to provide whistleblowers with support and legal guidance. With offices in New York, D.C., San Francisco, and London, the Constantine Cannon...

Another “Magic Pipe” Down the Drain: Whistleblower Tips Lead to Guilty Plea in Ocean Dumping Case

Posted  03/19/20
M/T Zao Galaxy from DOJ files
Whistleblowers and an alert Coast Guard examiner exposed the illegal ocean-dumping of unfiltered bilge water by Singapore shipping company Unix Line PTE. The company pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) after a conscientious crew member slipped a note reading “magic pipe” and “damage marine environment” to the  examiner inspecting the ship M/T Zao Galaxy.  Another crew...

Medicaid Drug Rebate Fraud: Should it be an Enforcement Priority?

Posted  03/10/20
pill container spilled over with pills in the form of a dollar sign
Medicaid has one very intuitive approach to keeping drug prices in check. Drug companies, under a law called the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, must rebate Medicaid programs any money that resulted from the increased drug prices outpacing inflation. Inflation is benchmarked to either 1990, or the first year a drug came to market, which ever is later. As an example of how this works, imagine a pharmaceutical company...

Read the Second Place Winner’s Essay in Constantine Cannon’s Law School Scholarship Contest

Posted  03/10/20
onstantine-cannon-whistleblower-law-school-scholarship
Constantine Cannon is excited to share the second place essay in our first annual Scholarship Essay Writing Contest.  The contest asked entrants to discuss the importance of whistleblowers.  Our second place winner, Hannah Fitzmorris, wrote about the IRS Whistleblower Reward Program which “empowers ordinary citizens in positions of relative power disadvantage to utilize the tools of morality and duty of...

“Objective Falsity” Is Not Required Under the False Claims Act: A Legally False Opinion May Suffice

Posted  03/6/20
Gavel close-up
In a significant win for whistleblowers, a federal appellate court held this week that, in order to determine liability under the False Claims Act, a whistleblower need not prove that a claim is “objectively” false.  Instead, the Court held that, consistent with common law, a claim can be false under the FCA if based not on objectively verifiable facts, but on non-compliance with statutory or regulatory...
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