Whistleblower Eligibility

July 25, 2017

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of nearly $2.5 million to an employee of a domestic government agency whose whistleblower tip helped launch an SEC investigation and whose continued assistance enabled the SEC to address a company's misconduct. ''Whistleblowers can provide a wealth of information and ongoing assistance that helps our agency bring enforcement actions quicker and more efficiently,'' said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower.  ''This whistleblower not only helped us open the case, but also provided timely ongoing assistance along with critical documents and testimony that accelerated the pace of our enforcement action.'' Approximately $156 million has now been awarded to 45 whistleblowers who voluntarily provided the SEC with original and useful information that led to a successful enforcement action.  No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards. SEC

July 25, 2017

The SEC made a whistleblower award of nearly $2.5 million to an undisclosed employee of a domestic government agency whose whistleblower tip helped launch an SEC investigation and whose continued assistance enabled the SEC to address a company's misconduct.  SEC

January 17, 2017

New York-based asset manager BlackRock Inc. will pay a $340,000 penalty to settle charges that it improperly used separation agreements in which exiting employees were forced to waive their ability to obtain whistleblower awards.  According to the SEC’s order, more than 1,000 departing BlackRock employees signed separation agreements containing violative language stating that they “waive any right to recovery of incentives for reporting of misconduct.”  BlackRock added the waiver provision in October 2011 after the SEC adopted its whistleblower program rules, and the firm continued using it in separation agreements until March 2016.  SEC

July 27, 2016

Connecticut psychiatrist Dr. Anton Fry and his company CPC Associates agreed to pay $36,704 to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by submitting improper claims to Medicare for psychiatric services that were provided over the phone instead of by meeting with the beneficiaries in the office and treating them in person.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Jodi Cohen, a former patient of Dr. Fry, and Medical Bill Consultants, LLC, a billing company.  They will receive a whistleblower award of $6,239 from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (DCT)

April 14, 2016

Boston Medical Center (BMC) and two of its physician practice organizations agreed to pay $1.1 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by improperly billing Medicare and Medicaid.  Specifically, the government charged that (1) BMC billed Medicare for more units of Rituxan, an expensive cancer drug, than BMC actually infused in its patients; (2) BMC billed Medicare and Medicaid for services at its pre-surgical treatment center even though the global fee for the subsequent surgeries covered those same treatments; and (3) BMC submitted claims to Medicare for outpatient podiatry services where the clinical documentation did not support the reasonableness and necessity of the services.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by BMC’s former Chief Compliance Officer, Kathleen Heffernan.  She will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (DMA)