Whistleblower News From The Inside — April 25, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

Manufacturer of defective bridge parts sentenced — Joel de la Torre supplied defective elastomeric bridge bearings to North Carolina highway contractors and forged the name of a teenager on certifications that the bearings had been tested.  The bearings are slabs of rubber that act as shock absorbers. The cost to replace them is expected to exceed $5 million. USAO – EDNC

Korea investigates allegations that Novartis used medical journals to channel money to health-care professionals —  The company paid $25 million last month to settle SEC charges of FCPA violations in China. WSJ

LuxLeaks whistleblower trial will begin this week —  A former PwC auditor is accused of stealing documents that detailed tax agreements with the Luxembourg government that allowed hundreds of  companies to avoid billions in taxes. A second unnamed man and a French journalist are also on trial in connection with the leaks. The Guardian

UK introduces new efforts to curb money laundering —  Under the proposals for “Unexplained Wealth Orders” those who are not able to say where their wealth has come from or who fail to cooperate with the authorities will have their assets seized. Reuters

How can companies create effective compliance programs? Ethics and Compliance Initiative report has suggestions —  Among the key characteristics are encouraging the reporting of concerns of suspected wrongdoing.  WSJ