Whistleblower News from the Inside - September 19, 2014
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
GlaxoSmithKline fined $490M by China for bribery — The record penalty comes from a Chinese court verdict delivered after a one-day trial finding the pharmaceutical giant guilty of paying bribes to doctors and hospitals to promote GSK products. BBC
Three patient recruiters sentenced for roles in kickback scheme — Patient recruiters for Trust Care Health Services in Florida were given combined sentences of several years in jail and millions of dollars in penalties for their roles in a kickback scheme that involved billing Medicare for unnecessary services. DOJ
Does the SEC’s poor collection rate discourage whistleblowers? — The SEC only collected 42% of the amounts defendants were ordered to pay in the past three years and as whistleblower awards are paid from the actual amount the agency collects it raises the question of whether whistleblowers are likely to see smaller awards than expected. WSJ
Bank of Montreal sued over Thomas Petters’ Ponzi scheme — The bank was sued for $23.6 billion – more than six times the estimated $3.65 billion size of the fraud – by a trustee liquidating two Florida funds that claimed to have lost money in the scheme. Reuters
Seven Mitsubishi and Hitachi execs indicted for price-fixing — A federal grand jury in Detroit returned two separate indictments against the executives from these Japanese auto parts makers for their participation in a conspiracy to fix prices of certain auto parts sold in the US. DOJ
New law to oversee drugs given to our poultry? — Two Congresswomen are pushing action to reign in what they see as the potentially dangerous overuse of antibiotics in our food supply. The Guardian
Litigation in China moves fast — the “standards and goals” for their judges must be measured in minutes.