Whistleblower News From The Inside -- December 8, 2017
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Doping Whistleblower Claims Nets Owner Paid Athlete to Keep Quiet – The former lab director responsible for exposing Russia’s massive doping scandal claims Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov paid an Olympic athlete not to go public with the scheme. Grigory Rodchenkov, who blew the whistle after fleeing to the United States, testified under oath that he was told Prokhorov paid “millions of rubles” (several hundred thousand dollars) to biathlete Irina Starykh to keep her quiet. Rodchenkov did not learn of the alleged bribe from the athlete herself, though. Rather, he says a doctor responsible for delivering steroids to athletes, Irina Rodionova, told him Starykh was paid hush money by Prokhorov. SI
VW Executive Sentenced to Prison for Role in Conspiracy to Cheat U.S. Emissions Tests – The former general manager of Volkswagen AG’s U.S. Environment and Engineering Office was sentenced 84 months in prison for his role in VW’s scheme to sell diesel “clean diesel” vehicles containing software designed to cheat U.S. emissions tests. Oliver Schmidt pleaded guilty on Aug. 4 to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, to commit wire fraud and to violate the Clean Air Act, and to one count of violating the Clean Air Act. “Upon learning of Volkswagen’s massive scheme to defraud and mislead U.S. consumers and regulators, Oliver Schmidt chose to join the conspiracy and deceive U.S. regulators,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Cronan. “This case, along with the prior prosecution of the company and another Volkswagen engineer, further demonstrate the Criminal Division’s unwavering commitment to hold both corporations and individuals accountable for their wrongdoing.” DOJ
Courts Freeze Out Late-Filing Whistleblowers – Article discussing two recent court wins by False Claims Act defendants showing the perilous position in which late-filing whistleblowers can find themselves if they want to share in any potential fraud recovery. Pharmacy services company PharMerica and device maker Biotronik both bested FCA lawsuits filed by whistleblowers bringing allegations that at least in part overlapped with other, earlier filed FCA lawsuits. The Department of Justice’s intervention and settlement in the earlier FCA suits barred subsequent whistleblower lawsuits involving similar allegations of fraud, the courts said. The Ninth Circuit said the bar applied even to whistleblower allegations concerning which the DOJ didn’t intervene because the government became a “party” to the entire first whistleblower lawsuit upon intervention. Bloomberg