Whistleblower News From The Inside -- October 9, 2017
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Contractor gets 3-year sentence for Iraq fraud that cost U.S. millions – A former government contractor who helped scam the State Department out of millions of dollars was sentenced Friday to three years in prison. Jose Rivera, 57, of Potomac, Md., worked with two others to trick the contractor DynCorp into paying a grossly inflated rent for a training camp in Iraq, according to prosecutors. The State Department ultimately footed the bill for the property, which came out to over $5.3 million. Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said a serious sentence was required to “make sure other people involved in government contracting know that if they commit fraud, even over there, there will be consequences.” Washington Post
IBM Can’t Exit FCA Suit Over Emergency Response Program – An Illinois federal judge ruled Friday that IBM Corp. can’t escape a whistleblower suit over $50 million in allegedly false claims for federal grant funds meant for an emergency response project, saying there is enough evidence for a jury to ponder the majority of the suit’s charges. In his ruling on IBM’s motion for summary judgment, U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin largely rejected the company’s efforts to dodge relator Michael McGee’s False Claims Act suit over a Cook County, Illinois, program to install mobile telecommunications platforms in emergency responders’ vehicles. The judge said McGee has presented enough evidence to keep alive his Illinois False Claims Act claims and one federal FCA claim accusing the company of knowingly making false statements to back up its allegedly fraudulent requests for payment. Law360
Attorney General Porrino Announces State Lawsuit Alleging Greed-Driven Scheme to Boost Sales by Fentanyl Drug Maker Insys – Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced today that New Jersey has filed a four-count lawsuit against Insys Therapeutics, Inc. charging that the company engaged in a greed-driven campaign of consumer fraud and submission of false claims to health insurers to increase the market share for its powerful opioid-fentanyl drug Subsys. NJ AG Office