Investigative Journalists Face Increasing Threats from Corrupt Regimes
Posted 06/26/20
Journalists around the globe are facing increasingly serious threats to their safety and freedom as they report stories that do not please corrupt governments. Most recently, Maria Ressa—a globally renowned investigative journalist from the Philippines—was found guilty last week for what is, by all accounts, a trumped-up charge of “cyber libel” based on a law that did not even exist at the time of the...
Under Cover of Pandemic, Nursing Home Residents Illegally Evicted
Posted 06/26/20
“It felt opportunistic, where some homes were basically seizing the moment when everyone is looking the other way to move people out.” (Laurie Facciarossa Brewer, long-term care ombudsman in New Jersey). With nursing homes involved in more than 40% of coronavirus deaths, in depth reporting by Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Amy Julia Harris at the New York Times reveals a new threat to residents’ care and...
COVID Frauds of the Week: Consumer and Investor Fraud
Posted 06/18/20
Scammers continue to prey on the vulnerable during the COVID-19 crisis, and thankfully, they continue to get busted for it. This week, the enforcement highlights centered on consumer and investor fraud, although there are surely numerous other kinds of fraud that have not yet been stopped.
The Federal Trade Commission this week announced that it had taken legal action to try to shut down a remarkably (and...
A Win-Win Solution: Italy Proposes a Legislative Hack for COVID-Related Whistleblowers
Posted 06/12/20
As part of Constantine Cannon’s participation in the Financial Times Global Legal Hackathon, Partner Mary Inman collaborated with a multidisciplinary team to develop a hack to empower and protect COVID19 whistleblowers in Italy. Contributors include: Nicoletta Parisi, a professor of International Law at Universita degli Studi di Catania; Priscilla Robledo, a former IP attorney who now works as a campaigner on behalf...
Work-From-Home Brings Increase in SEC Whistleblower Tips, Demonstrating Need for Whistleblower Protection and Support
Posted 06/10/20
This month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC has been receiving a “surge” in whistleblower reports under the SEC Whistleblower Program. The article, Tips to SEC Surge as Working From Home Emboldens Whistleblowers, states that the SEC received approximately 4,000 tips between mid-March and mid-May – in the heart of the pandemic – which represented a 35% increase over the equivalent period in 2019....
Increased Federal Funds, Incentives, and Requirements for Nursing Homes Brings Worrisome Opportunities for Fraud
Posted 06/5/20
The pandemic has exposed the razor thin margin for error by which our most vulnerable are cared for in nursing homes. New aggregate federal data reveal the appalling toll on facility residents and staff: over 31,700 deaths as of June 4, 2020 (an undercounted 1/3 of all US COVID-19 deaths), according to the federal government’s Nursing Home Compare. Responsive federal funding for nursing homes, requirements for...
SEC Makes $50M Whistleblower Reward: LARGEST AWARD TO DATE
Posted 06/4/20
The SEC today announced a $50 million whistleblower award, the largest award to date to a single individual whistleblower under the SEC Whistleblower Program. This tops the $54 million award to two whistleblowers in September 2018 and the $50 million award to two whistleblowers in March 2018. It brings the total amount of awards under the program to more that a half-billion dollars. And it is just the latest in...
Project Proposes Legislative Action to Protect and Incentivize AML Whistleblowers
Posted 05/29/20
Offshore Alert and the Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists were joined by Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Lawyers Poppy Alexander, Eric Havian, and Michael Ronickher in developing a proposal to enact legislation that would create statutory incentives and protections for whistleblowers with information about money laundering.
The proposal, unveiled on May 25, 2020, was developed in response to a...
Canadian Accountability Experts Propose Comprehensive “Hack” Promoting Increased Transparency and Support for Whistleblowers
Posted 05/29/20
A group of prominent accountability experts have come up with a comprehensive proposal designed to increase transparency and whistleblower protections in Canada. The Canadian COVID-19 Accountability Group (CCAG), comprised of former whistleblowers and other experts from academia, law, policing and journalism, was created in response to Constantine Cannon’s FT Innovative Lawyers Global Legal Hackathon challenge. The...