Whistleblower News From The Inside — March 28, 2016
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
DOJ demands Novartis provide backup for 80,000 “doctor-education events” — The Manhattan Office of the US Attorney and the whistleblower in the suit allege that Novartis provided illegal kickbacks to health-care providers through bogus educational programs at high-end restaurants and sports bars where the company’s drugs were barely discussed. Fierce Pharma
DOJ and SEC charge securities professional with defrauding institutional investors — In parallel civil and criminal actions, Andrew Caspersen is charged with defrauding two institutions of $95 million by soliciting them to invest in a shell company he controlled whose name was deceptively similar to that of a legitimate private equity fund. SEC
Former senior investigator pleads guilty to conspiring to defraud NY Power Authority — Stephen Sheridan conspired with the owner of a landscaping company to skim money that should have gone to employees who performed landscaping work and to bill for fake “no-show” employees. DOJ
NY AG reaches agreement with government contractor that illegally outsourced NY jobs to India — A “groundbreaking” $3.1 million agreement was reached with Focused Technologies Imaging Services, which was required to perform the work at a warehouse in NY State but instead unlawfully sent the personal information of over 16 million people to a foreign business that was not authorized to receive it. The outsourcing also resulted in the failure of FTIS to adhere to a requirement that over 50% of the labor hours of the contract be performed by individuals with disabilities. NY AG
Kilgore Flare and subcontractor settle False Claims Act whistleblower suit involving defective infrared flares — The defendants will pay $8 million to settle allegations that they violated a contract prohibition on using imported magnesium powder and misrepresented the content of magnesium powder imported from China to avoid paying antidumping duties. The Chinese magnesium powder allegedly violated both the requirement for domestically produced powder and engineering specifications required by the contracts. DOJ
CFTC charges Marbury Advisors and its managing director with fraud in a commodity futures scheme — The complaint alleges that defendants solicited over $1.2 million by falsely representing that they would buy Treasury Bills on customers’ behalf, but instead used the funds to trade commodity futures. CFTC
US Navy captain sentenced in bribery scandal — Capt Daniel Dusek was sentenced to 46 months in prison for providing classified information to a Malaysian defense contractor in exchange for luxury hotel stays and the services of prostitutes. CBS News NPR