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...
In Second-Ever Enforcement Action of Its Kind, SEC Stands with Whistleblower Against Company’s Attempt to Muzzle Reporting
Posted 11/8/19
Imagine that, after you invest in a company, you start to smell a rat. After you try to alert other investors or report what you believe is a fraudulent scheme, the company you invested in draws up an agreement that conditions your shareholding on a prohibition on speaking with regulatory agencies. If it seems illegal, that’s because it is. Yet that’s exactly what online auction and memorabilia company Collectors...
“Whistleblowers don’t come forward because it polls well; they come forward because, having done their own moral calculus, they simply don’t have a choice.”
Constantine Cannon whistleblower attorneys Leah Judge and Hallie Noecker discuss why President Trump's attempt to intimidate whistleblowers is failing--and will continue to fail – in Law360 (paywall). Judge and Noecker posit that whistleblowers are cut from a different cloth. They value fairness over loyalty, and their consciences drive them to speak truth to power, even when doing so carries great personal...
Constantine Cannon Settles Whistleblower Case with Sharp Healthcare Center for Research
Posted 11/6/19
A whistleblower represented by Constantine Cannon, who exposed an alleged cycle of deceit at Sharp HealthCare, a regional hospital system in San Diego, has settled a False Claims Act lawsuit against the Sharp Healthcare Center for Research, Sharp’s clinical-trial research arm.
The whistleblower suit alleged that Sharp fraudulently billed government payers, like Medicare and Medicaid (known as Medi-Cal in...
Appellate Decision Raises Questions for Relators Seeking a Share from Alternate Remedies
Posted 11/4/19
The Third Circuit caught industry headlines when it was reported to have ruled on October 28, 2019, that a whistleblower had no right to an award based on a portion of criminal fines or forfeitures. That would upend longstanding rights of relators to share in the proceeds of “related proceedings.”
Thankfully, the real scope of the opinion is less far-reaching, though it would be wise for relators to consider...
Media Round-Up: Our Whistleblower Lawyers in the Press
Posted 10/24/19
With whistleblowers continuing to dominate the headlines, lawyers from the Constantine Cannon whistleblower team have been published in and featured in a number of outlets. This week saw the following stories:
Media Roundup: Constantine Cannon Attorneys on the Ukraine Whistleblower
Posted 10/11/19
As the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry continues to dominate the headlines, numerous Constantine Cannon whistleblower attorneys have been in the news providing experienced commentary on the anonymous whistleblowers who have exposed the alleged misconduct.
On Monday, USA Today published an op-ed by Constantine Cannon whistleblower attorney Noelle Yasso challenging President Trump’s claim that he has a...
When “Shall” Doesn’t Mean “Shall” – the Director of National Intelligence’s refusal to hand over whistleblower complaint undermines executive branch accountability, reports Constantine Cannon’s Harry Litman in The Washington Post and MSNBC.
Posted 09/18/19
Whistleblowers, inspectors general, and congressional oversight all serve the purpose of keeping the executive in-check and accountable, says Harry Litman, who was featured on MSNBC, in The Washington Post, and elsewhere for his take on the unprecedented refusal of the executive to produce material for congressional oversight.
A whistleblower submitted information to the intelligence-community inspector general,...
Catch of the Week — Texas Hospital Exec Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Medicare Fraud
Posted 09/18/19
On Monday, a federal judge in Houston sentenced Starsky Bomer, the former CFO and COO of Atrium Medical Center and Pristine Healthcare, to ten years in prison for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme that bilked the government of $16m. Bomer was convicted by a jury in October of last year. His co-conspirator, Dr. Sohail R. Siddiqui, took a plea deal in 2017 and is serving five years in prison.
Bomer will do time...
CATCH OF THE WEEK – Mallinckrodt Pays for Kickbacks on Acthar; Investigation into Copayment Subsidies Continues
Posted 09/6/19
This week, the Department of Justice announced that pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt ARD LLC had agreed to pay over $15 million to resolve allegations that it paid illegal kickbacks to physicians to induce them to prescribe Acthar.
AKS Allegations
Two whistleblower lawsuits brought under the False Claims Act against Mallinckrodt alleged that from 2009 to 2013, the pharma company, then known as Questcor,...