Keeping Our Eyes Open for COVID-19 Fraud

The COVID-19 pandemic is shaping the way we live around the world and dominating headlines.  Inevitably, it will be a major focus for government enforcement agencies.  The whistleblower team at Constantine Cannon is closely tracking reports of fraud in the Coronavirus response.

This week, we launched a new webpage as a hub for COVID-19 fraud news.  We encourage you to visit this page, which will be updated regularly.  With a focus on critical role that whistleblowers can play in revealing fraud, our COVID-19 fraud hub reviews topics including:

• Programs under the federal CARES Act and related federal stimulus programs
• Healthcare, Medicare, and Medicaid fraud that results from increased and different use of the healthcare system, regulatory changes designed to respond to the pandemic, and the financial pressures faced by providers of all kinds during the pandemic.
• Financial and investment fraud related to the pandemic, and its resulting economic impacts

In addition, we will be regularly reporting on enforcement actions involving COVID-19 fraud that are brought by different federal and state agencies.  As you may already know, we summarize successful enforcement actions brought by DOJ, the states, the SEC, the CFTC, and more.  Many of these involve whistleblowers, but even if they do not, the collection provides whistleblowers with insight into the government’s priorities.  With COVID-19 being so new – however long it may feel like at times! – there will be a lag before successful enforcement actions get on the books.  In the meantime, we will monitor actions as they are initiated and publicly announced.  This week’s post reviews several frauds involving promises to deliver N95 masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) that did not, in fact, exist, as well as a case involving Medicare fraud.

The sheer scale of the Coronavirus response means the government might lack resources for robust oversight.  Whistleblowers, who often have information available to no one else, have a key role to play in bringing COVID-19 fraud to the attention of overtaxed government enforcement agencies.  The whistleblower team at Constantine Cannon hopes to  make it easy for potential whistleblowers to find the information and answers they need about their options, the whistleblower process, and the potential financial rewards available to whistleblowers.

You can find all of our COVID-19-related content and posts on our new COVID-19 Fraud homepage, or by searching for all COVID-19-tagged content.  If you have any questions or would like a confidential consultation, please contact us by web or telephone.

Read More:

• COVID-19 Fraud
• Whistleblower Reward Laws
• Whistleblower FAQs
• I Think I Have A Whistleblower Case
• Why the Constantine Cannon Team
• Contact Us

Tagged in: COVID-19, Financial and Investment Fraud, Healthcare Fraud, Importance of Whistleblowers, Medicaid, Medicare, Whistleblower Rewards,