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Whistleblower News From The Inside — August 23, 2016

Posted  August 23, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

Court to Hear Whistleblower’s Case Alleging Celgene’s Aggressive Push of Thalidomide – A whistleblower suit claiming that Celegene defrauded government insurance programs in its marketing of Thalomid (a once-popular morning-sickness drug found to cause birth defects) has been cleared for trial.  Recently unsealed documents in the case allege that Thalomid’s success is due to an aggressive campaign to encourage doctors to prescribe it and successor drugs to treat maladies beyond those the FDA authorized.  Chicago Tribune

Three Companies Agree to Plead Guilty for Fixing Prices of Electrolytic – Rubycon Corporation, Elna Co., Ltd. and Holy Stone Holdings Co., Ltd. will plead guilty for their roles in a conspiracy to fix prices for electrolytic capacitors.  Two other companies, NEC TOKIN Corp. and Hitachi Chemical Co. Ltd., pleaded guilty to participating in the same worldwide conspiracy earlier this year and one individual has been indicted for his role in the scheme. DOJ

Tennessee Woman Sentenced to Prison for Filing False Claims for Refund – A Nashville woman has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for filing 48 fraudulent tax returns on behalf of friends, family and herself.  The returns falsely claimed more than $19.8 million in refunds.  The IRS issued $1,003,238 in refunds for eight of the 48 fraudulent returns.  DOJ

OSHA Pilots New, Expedited Whistleblower Review Process – The Department of Labor has launched a new pilot process in its Western region that allows certain whistleblowers to ask OSHA to expedite their claims.  The pilot became effective Aug. 1, in the agency’s San Francisco region, which includes California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, and the islands of American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.  OSHA

Federal Inmate, Co-Conspirator Indicted for Alleged Tax Fraud – A federal prisoner in Mississippi, along with a co-conspirator in West Tennessee, have been indicted for allegedly operating a tax fraud scheme.  During the course of the scheme, the inmate obtained personal identifying information and provided it to his co-conspirator on the outside who then prepared and filed fraudulent federal income tax returns using the information in an attempt to obtain income tax refunds. USAO W.D. Tenn.

New Mexico High Court Limits Scope of Whistleblower Law – The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that public employees cannot sue government officials as individuals under the state’s Whistleblower Protection Act. The court held the statute can only be used to bring suit against government agencies or officials serving in their public roles.  Santa Fe New Mexican