On April 16, 2020, the Honorable William M. McSwain, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, issued a sweeping request for help in identifying companies and individuals who seek to “exploit the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic for their own benefit.” The Philadelphia United States Attorney’s Office has a long history fighting […]
While most compliance programs tout policies and procedures encouraging employees and contractors to internally report their concerns, the reality is that many businesses are unprepared to respond appropriately when they receive a complaint from a whistleblower. This lack of preparation often stems from a critical failure to understand the whistleblower’s concerns and to train frontline […]
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses and individuals around the world are rising to the occasion and ordinary people are doing extraordinary things. We have seen first responders, emergency room physicians, nurses, grocery store workers, and mail carriers go above and beyond their call of duty. One Pennsylvania manufacturer of major league baseball […]
The perils of substituting relators in the midst of a qui tam were the highlight of this week’s decision by the Delaware Supreme Court on certification from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Sanofi-Aventis United States Llc, No. 256, 2019, 2020 Del. LEXIS 97 (Mar. 17, 2020), on certification from In […]
There is strong appeal in the concept of remaining anonymous for many whistleblowers but unless you can prove both a fear of severe harm, and that the fear of severe harm is reasonable, two recent Circuit Court decisions illustrate how unlikely it is that you can remain in the shadows and demonstrates the risks inherent […]
What Happened On January 1, 2020, Amendments to the Law of Ukraine On Prevention of Corruption (“Amendments”) came into effect that introduced groundbreaking protections for whistleblowers in Ukraine that rival the protections offered under the United States False Claims Act (“FCA”). The Motivation Ukraine has suffered through a longstanding history of corruption. In the United […]
This is the second part of a two-part article. In the first of this two-part series, we discussed the success of the United States’ federal False Claims Act (FCA),[1] the rise of international whistleblowers through a study of the Michael Epp case,[2] and what global companies need to do to prepare. In this follow-up, we review exemplary […]
On Sept. 27, the U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against 35 individuals across various jurisdictions, allegedly involved in genetic testing fraud schemes that cost taxpayers over $2.1 billion. The government asserted that the individuals had engaged in audacious schemes to target seniors and the disabled through the ordering of cancer genetic screening, or […]
On October 28, 2019, the Third Circuit became the most recent circuit court to determine that the False Claims Act’s (“FCA”) other alternate-remedy provision, 31 U.S.C. § 3730(c)(5), does not give a relator the right to intervene in a criminal proceeding. United States v. Wegeler, 2019 WL 5538568, — F.3d — (3d Cir. Oct. 28, […]
The United States recently filed a False Claims Act Complaint in Intervention against Florida-based compounding pharmacy Patient Care America (“PCA”), two PCA employees, as well as the private equity (“PE”) firm that acquired PCA and helped manage the company.1 The scheme alleged by the government was a common one: the payment of kickbacks for referrals of […]
If you are aware of any person, corporation or entity that you think may be violating the Federal False Claims Act or a State False Claims Act, contact us today.