Whistleblower News From The Inside -- May 22, 2017

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

DOJ Brass Says Sessions Has Eye on Health Care Fraud — U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will keep health care fraud high on the U.S. Department of Justice agenda, the agency’s acting criminal head said at a speech Thursday. Criminal Division acting head Kenneth Blanco said the attorney general “feels very strongly” that tackling schemes that divert funds from Medicare should be a DOJ priority. “I can tell you that he has expressed this to me personally,” Blanco said at an American Bar Association conference on health care fraud. The DOJ emphasis on health care fraud is not new, as the remarks Thursday made clear. During his speech, Blanco took the opportunity to recap some of the high-profile cases brought during the Obama administration. Law360

U.S. Charges Virginia Man in Fitbit Stock Hoax — A Virginia man who orchestrated a hoax takeover bid that drove up Fitbit ‘s stock price last November, yet made only about $3,000 for his efforts, has been arrested and charged with fraud, U.S. prosecutors said on Friday. Robert Walter Murray, 24, of Chesapeake, was accused of submitting a sham regulatory filing in which the nonexistent, Shanghai-based ABM Capital offered to buy Fitbit for $12.50 per share, roughly a 46% premium. The filing caused Fitbit ‘s share price to rise 8% to $9.27 on Nov. 10, boosting the company’s market value by $122 million, before the San Francisco-based maker of step counters and other wearable devices denied knowledge of any tender offer. Authorities said Murray had spent less than $1,000 on Fitbit call options, a bet the share price would rise, just before submitting the hoax offer, and made a roughly $3,000 profit in one day by selling the options after the stock jumped. Fortune

Jury Rules in Favor of West Hollywood in Whistleblower Trial — A Los Angeles jury Friday decided in favor of the City of West Hollywood in a wrongful termination case in which a former City Council aide alleged she was fired for reporting the sexual harassment of a colleague and other wrongdoing. In a downtown civil courtroom, the jury determined that the city had legitimate, non-retaliatory reasons for firing Michelle Rex, a former aide to Councilman John D’Amico, when it eliminated its controversial council deputy system, leaving Rex without a job. The verdict marked the end of a two-week trial. West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman said in a statement that the city “could not be more pleased” with the outcome. Los Angeles Times