Category: False Claims

Hospital in California Allegedly Involved in a Healthcare Fraud Including Kickbacks, Justice Claims $600 Million in Return ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER In California, the Pacific Hospital is involved in a healthcare fraud case with an alleged $600 million in falsified billing in an eight-year period. The scheme was allegedly created by the […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The IRS Whistleblower Reward Increased in Fiscal 2016 The IRS announced that rewards paid to whistleblowers from October 1st, 2015 to September 30, 2016 will have a 6.8 percent deduction. There is a similar deduction from the award every year, typically taken to pay outstanding government debts, and […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER In a False Claim Act Suit even the Chief Executive Officer is targeted In a False Claim Act suit, a whistleblower reports all fraud in his knowledge executed by government contractors to the federals. But the Department of Justice (DOJ) represented by a Deputy Attorney General, Sally Quillan […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER In a recent ruling that has implications for whistleblowers filing under the False Claims Act, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision. The ruling should lead to more whistleblowers filing qui tam lawsuits. In this case, United States ex rel. Hartpence v. Kinetic Concepts, […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Attorney General filed charges of elder abuse alleging that Verdugo Valley Skilled Nursing & Wellness Centre LLC, based in Montrose, California, failed to provide the necessary care to a resident who suffered from burns, resulting in his death. The criminal charges indicate that James Populus, who had […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidance this week regarding their whistleblower protections. This reinforced their stance that whistleblowers are protected against retaliation even if they report internally within their company, rather than to the agency, first. The Dodd-Frank Act, which created the SEC whistleblower program, had whistleblower […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Thanks to whistleblower George Karadsheh, a doctor who was improperly giving patients chemotherapy was stopped. Dr. Farid Fata, a Michigan doctor, was recently sentenced to 45 years in jail. According to prosecutors, Fata mistreated over 500 patients. In some cases, he was administering chemotherapy to people who did […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER Two pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca and Teva Pharmaceutical’s Cephalon unit, have settled with the government after facing claims about rebates underpayment to Medicaid programs. The two companies have agreed to pay over 50 million dollars as a result of the Medicaid fraud allegations. This is one of the latest […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Internal Revenue Service recently released their 2014 annual report to Congress on its whistleblower program. Although awards paid by the IRS whistleblower program decreased in 2014, the agency expects to pay out more in 2015. According to the report, the IRS whistleblower program paid out 101 awards […]

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER The Department of Justice announced that a Medicare fraud case against AseraCare hospice facilities will start August 3, after a half-dozen employees filed whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act. The company could owe up to $202 million. The whistleblowers, and the Department of Justice, which elected to […]