Category: False Claims

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER SEC Whistleblower Program Awards The Securities and Exchange commission has just doled out it’s second-largest award ever, a whopping $17 million, to a Wall Street employee who provided insider information that helped advance an SEC investigation. Due to the nature of the investigation and the anonymity of the […]

Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 This newly signed law strengthens the protections for whistleblowers who report illegal practices to the government, particularly with regards to trade secrets. In the past, employees who signed “gag orders” or non-disclosure agreements were hampered in their ability to report malfeasance, particularly in the […]

Congress Looks at Reforming the False Claims Act The False Claims Act was originally created during the Civil War to allow ordinary citizens to sue fraudulent companies on behalf of the government. Companies that intentionally sold low-quality goods to the Union Army could be brought to task by civilians who […]

What Protections are guaranteed to Whistleblowers? A whistleblower is an employee who reports fraud executed by his or her company to the federal authorities or the authorities in California. To constitute a qui tam case, the company has to misappropriate the funds received by the government and the whistleblower has […]

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 […]