Whistleblower News From The Inside — April 4, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

With Leak Of ‘Panama Papers,’ A Glimpse Of World’s Fiscal Underbelly — Over 11 million records have been leaked from a law firm based in Panama, shedding light on the flow of dark money in the global financial system and on the offshore holdings of a dozen former and current world leaders. NPR

How Reporters Pulled Off the Panama Papers, the Biggest Leak in Whistleblower History – The Panama Papers leak is described as a “megaleak” of 2.6 terabytes of data, well over a thousandfold larger than the 2010 WikiLeaks cable release.  Reporting on the leak was coordinated by the Washington, DC-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.  Wired

Houston Psychiatrist Sentenced to 144 Months in Prison for Role in $158 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme — Sharon Iglehart, a former attending psychiatrist at Riverside General Hospital (Riverside) of Houston, was convicted at trial for a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare for intensive outpatient treatment for patients with severe mental illness, when the patients in fact rarely saw a psychiatrist and did not receive intensive psychiatric treatment at all.  DOJ

Patient Recruiter Convicted of $2 Million Home Health Care Fraud Scheme – The defendant, Carlos Nerey, accepted kickbacks totaling approximately $250,000 from two home health agencies, which he funneled through a shell company.  DOJ

Hospice provider AseraCare scores a win in unusual False Claims case — A federal judge sided with hospice care provider AseraCare, ruling that disagreements between physicians over whether patients should be eligible for hospice care do not, by themselves, prove fraud. The judge’s decision followed a series of strange twists in the case, as a jury in the case had previously found against AseraCare.  Modern Healthcare

Turkish prosecutor opens bribery probe into drugmaker Novartis – The probe by the Ankara Chief Prosecutor follows an earlier-reported investigation by Turkey’s health ministry into allegations by an anonymous whistleblower that the company had paid bribes through a consulting firm to secure an estimated $85 million in business advantages.  Reuters

Former NYS Deputy Secretary of State Indicted for Failing to Pay Restitution Arising from Earlier Corruption Conviction, and Committing Perjury about Ability to Pay – Joseph Strevell failed to make payments on a $111,500 restitution order and, when deposed by the US Attorney’s office, is alleged to have lied under oath.  USAO NDNY