Whistleblower News from the Inside - February 21, 2014

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

Senator Wyden calls for investigation into Hanford whistleblower firings – The call was prompted after two employees of Hanford Nuclear Reservation were fired for raising safety concerns about the construction of a $13B plant to treat the site’s most dangerous radioactive wastes.  Seattle Post Intelligencer

SEC pushes back on attempted narrowing of whistleblower protections – The agency files an amicus brief arguing for Dodd-Frank protections for whistleblowers regardless of whether they report securities wrongdoing to the SEC or internally within their company.  WSJ

Medicaid fraud in DC at “epidemic” level – In the largest bust in DC history, 25 people were arrested on federal charges connecting them to a series of Medicaid and other health-care schemes relating to home care and personal care services that were neither needed nor provided.  Washington Post

West Virginia passes False Claims Act – The House Judiciary Committee approved the state’s version of the False Claims Act with a 15-9 vote, establishing a law similar to the federal False Claims Act and including whistleblower rewards and attorneys fees for successful cases. West Virginia Record

DOJ joins whistleblower lawsuit against Tenet – The complaint alleges that four of the company’s hospitals paid kickbacks to obstetric clinics in exchange for referrals.  Dallas News

Madoff as whistleblower? – Lawsuit claims he is now alleging that leaders at JPMorgan knew of his fraud.  WSJ