The whistleblower recently awarded $1.1 million by the Internal Revenue Service had initially exposed Enron’s fraudulent practice of generating fictitious income by using abusive tax shelters to the IRS back in 1999. Erika A. Kelton of the Washington law firm Phillips & Cohen, was quoted saying, “If the IRS had pursued this information in 1999 when my client first informed them of these abusive tax shelters,
Former Medline Industries, Inc. employee turned whistleblower, Sean Mason, will receive $23.4 million of the $85 million Medline will pay to settle Mason’s lawsuit alleging false claims act violations. Mason’s complaint accuses Medline, an Illinois medical products company, of inducing medical providers such as HCA, Inc. and HealthSouth Corp., with fraudulent kickbacks in the form of “rebates”,
A Bill currently pending before the Washington State Senate would enact a Medicaid False Claims Act to protect against false claims made to the Washington State Medicaid Program. Senate Bill Number 5458 would, like the federal False Claims Act, encourage private whistleblowers (known as qui tam “relators”) to step forward and file a lawsuit against those who submit false claims for payment to the Washington State Medicaid Program.
A telecommunications company, and a New York financial firm have agreed to pay more than $16.5 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit claiming they defrauded the government. Avaya, which provided desktop phone systems to hundreds of federal and state agencies, was alleged to have billed the government for equipment and maintenance even when the devices didn’t work or had been replaced with upgraded systems.
The article, “The IRS’s Proposed Amendments to Its Informant Reward Program” authored by Marc S. Raspanti and Douglas K. Rosenblum was published in The Legal Intelligencer on March 2, 2011. Mr. Raspanti is a partner in the firm’s Philadelphia office and Mr.
On February 11, the SEC appointed Sean McKessy, former corporate secretary for AOL and Altria group (Phillip Morris) to head its new whistleblower program. McKessy was previously an attorney in the SEC’s enforcement division. Because of his corporate background, many worry that he will be an impediment to creating an effective SEC whistleblower program.
New York State recently settled claims against Young Adult Institute (YAI), a provider of residential services for developmentally disabled adults for $18 million. Under government sponsored programs, New York State reimbursed YAI for losses sustained in operating its state programs. The state charged YAI with inflating its losses by attributing additional expenses unrelated to the state programs to the losses in order to inflate the amount to be reimbursed,
The office manager of a wheelchair manufacturer pleaded guilty to conspiring with a church pastor that defrauded Medicare of over $6 million. The defendant admitted to submitting false claims for high-end power wheelchair and other medical equipment provided to Medicare beneficiaries that did not need them. The defendant also admitted to destroying documents in an attempt to cover up the fraud.
On February 17, U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, announced that a joint Department of Justice and Health and Human Services Medicare fraud strike task force made its largest arrest ever in connection with a false billing investigation. In total, 111 individuals were arrested and 16 search warrants were executed across the country in connection with the investigation.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is advocating for a state false claims act similar to the federal act. DeWine recognized the benefits of having a state false claims act, having recovered $10 million as its share of a recent FCA settlement with CareSource of Dayton under the Federal False Claims Act.
