Legislation and Regulation News

Constantine Cannon and GAP Collaborate to Form Covid-19 Legislative Team to Help Enact State False Claims Acts

As part of the FT Innovative Lawyers Global Legal Hackathon, Constantine Cannon whistleblower attorneys and the Government Accountability Project (GAP) have teamed up to form a Covid-19 Legislative Strike Force Team to help advocate for the enactment or amendment of State False Claims Acts to protect trillions of dollars in state and federal funds now being spent in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Need for...

The Paycheck Protection Program is a Big Solution to a Big Problem, but it Needs Big Oversight

It’s no secret that our local bodegas, corner nail salons, and go-to restaurants are in trouble. The unprecedented nationwide stay-home initiatives may be flattening the curve, but they’re also threatening to bankrupt millions of small businesses and their employees. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act aims to address this problem with numerous programs, including the Paycheck Protection...

Legislation Watch: Proposed Amendments to Bank Secrecy Act Include Whistleblower Rewards

Currently in the 116th Congress, both the House and Senate are considering bills that would amend existing law to provide a whistleblower reporting system and meaningful financial rewards to whistleblowers who come forward to the federal government to report unlawful money laundering and other violations of specified banking laws. We have previously written on the important benefits that would be available with...

New EU Rules Give Protection to Whistleblowers

On April 16, 2019, a new directive was adopted by the European Parliament aimed at encouraging reports of wrongdoing and protecting whistleblowers from retaliation. The new rules guarantee greater levels of protection for whistleblowers who report breaches of EU law in several sectors, including financial services, money laundering, product safety, data protection, environmental protection and nuclear safety. EU...

Constantine Cannon Attorneys Eric Havian and Michael Ronickher Published on Need for Whistleblowers in Anti-Money Laundering Enforcement

With a whistleblower program for anti-money laundering enforcement currently under discussion in the House of Representatives Financial Services subcommittee, Constantine Cannon attorneys Eric Havian and Michael Ronickher were published in Banking Exchange on April 22 on the benefits such a program could bring. Highlighting the example of the recent Standard Chartered settlement, in which the London-based bank agreed...

Judiciary Committee Approves Amendments to California FCA

On Tuesday, the Judiciary Committee of the California State Assembly passed Assembly Bill 1270, which would make several important changes to the California False Claims Act, most notably eliminating the tax fraud loophole and clarifying materiality and damages standards. At the hearing, Martin Goyette, the head of the California Attorney General’s False Claims Unit, explained that the proposed changes would...

Constantine Cannon Attorneys Leah Judge and Chris McLamb Published in the Daily Journal on Proposed Amendments to the California FCA

Constantine Cannon attorneys Leah Judge and Chris McLamb published an article in the Daily Journal highlighting proposed amendments to the California False Claims Act. Among other things, the bill would clarify the materiality requirement under the act and explicitly provide for consequential damages. The article explains how these changes will protect the government’s ability to punish and deter fraud and abuse in...

Constantine Cannon Attorneys Jessica Moore and Leah Judge Published in The Oklahoman on Helping to Curb Fraud in Oklahoma

Constantine Cannon attorneys Jessica T. Moore and Leah Judge published an op-ed piece in the Oklahoman advocating for the passage of House Bill No. 2386 (“the Oklahoma State Agency False Claims Act”). The proposed Oklahoma State Agency False Claims Act is modeled after similar state and local False Claims Act statutes that allow whistleblowers to bring lawsuits against companies and individuals who defraud the...

Congratulations to Puerto Rico for Adopting a False Claims Act

On July 23, 2018, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló, signed into law anti-fraud legislation that includes provisions modeled after the federal False Claims Act. The Puerto Rico law, called the Fraudulent Claims to Programs, Contracts, and Services of the Government of Puerto Rico Act, has features critical to effective false claims acts:

1. The Puerto Rico law permits whistleblowers to file qui tam lawsuits on...

Deputy AG Rosenstein Channels Seuss to Shakespeare to Inspire Corporate Compliance

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein pulled from a large cast of historical heavyweights to motivate the compliance community at the 2018 Annual Conference for Compliance and Risk Professionals.  His bottom line message to the lawyers, compliance officers and other risk professionals in the crowd: if we all do our part, both our companies and our country will be the better for it. It must have been a welcome...