Whistleblower News From The Inside — April 17, 2015
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Former JPMorgan Chase Broker Charged in $20 Million Fraud – According to a federal criminal complaint, former JPMorgan Chase broker Michael J. Oppenheim treated accounts maintained by his clients as his own personal piggy bank — using about $20 million in client money to make unprofitable options trades and even paying down the mortgage on his New Jersey home, all while telling clients that he was taking money from their accounts to invest mainly in low-risk municipal bonds. NYT
Owner of home health company sentenced to 9 years in prison and fined $32M — Felix Gonzalez, owner of Miami home health care agency AA Advanced Care Inc., received a 113 month prison sentence and was fined $32 million for billing the Medicare program for, among other things, expensive physical therapy and home health care services that were not medically necessary or not provided at all. DOJ
Ex-Viking Stu Voigt charged with fraud and conspiracy — Stu Voigt, the former Minnesota Vikings player and ex-chairman of the now-shuttered First Commercial Bank, was charged Wednesday with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, bank fraud, making false statements on a loan application and making monetary transactions in criminally derived property. St. Paul Business Journal
Whistleblower goes to jail, indicted bankers go free — At least 21 Swiss bankers under U.S. indictment for helping Americans skirt income taxes remain at large in their native country and out of the hands of prosecutors, while whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS banker who first revealed the widespread practice of Swiss banks setting up undeclared offshore accounts, served significant jail time. Business Insider
IL rail system Metra and unions OK whistleblower program — Metra, railroad unions and the Federal Railroad Administration announced the start of a whistleblower program to allow crew members to confidentially report unsafe conditions or violations of operating rules. Chicago Tribune
Former Zillow vice president named as writer of accusation-laden letter –Last week, Realtor.com operator Move, Inc. shook up its trade secrets litigation against Zillow by filing an anonymous letter with the court that included a wide variety of accusations about business practices at Zillow apparently written by the company’s former Vice President of Strategic Partnerships. Geek Wire