The U.S. Federal whistleblower statute enables individuals known as whistleblowers to unveil fraud within the government. Enacted in the 1860’s and significantly modified in the mid-1980’s, this statute has thus far led to the recovery of more than $30 billion for the U.S. Government in the last three decades alone by giving incentives and protection to those with information and willingness to blow the whistle on the unlawful activity.
CyTerra Corporation, a defense contractor and maker of IED sensors for the US Military, has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve civil-fraud allegations. The whistleblowers in the case, two former finance executives with the company, alleged that CyTerra inflated the costs of labor and materials to increase the company’s profits.
The DOJ has recently announced that the Doctors Hospital of Augusta, LLC has agreed to pay $1,020,000 to settle allegations that they submitted or caused the submission of false claims to the TRICARE and Medicare programs. The Doctors Hospital of Augusta, LLC is owned and operated by HCA Inc.
Fifty-five health care facilities in twenty-one states have agreed to pay a total of over $34 million to settle allegations of submitting false claims to Medicare for minimally invasive kyphoplasty procedures. Kyphoplasty is used to treat specific spinal fractures frequently caused by osteoporosis.
On July 1, New York Supreme Court Justice O. Peter Sherwood denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against Sprint Nextel Corp. for deliberately not collecting or paying millions of dollars of taxes for its cell phone service.
Beginning this month, whistleblowers working for Defense Department subcontractors will benefit from a new law intended to provide increased protection to those who expose potential wrongdoing.
The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a study June 24 that found that more than 417,000 prescriptions paid for by Medicare’s 2009 prescription drug program were written by unauthorized professionals.
Last Tuesday Arkansas Attorney General, Dustin McDaniel, filed a brief supported by his counterparts in 35 other states requesting that the Arkansas Supreme Court uphold a $1.2 billion fine levied against Johnson & Johnson and a subsidiary over the marketing of the antipsychotics drug Risperdal.
A settlement was announced late last week in the False Claims Act case against Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). According to the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales of the District of New Mexico, SAIC, one of the government’s largest contractors, paid $11.75 million regarding allegations that they inflated the cost of first responder training programs over a ten year period.
On June 12, 2013, the SEC issued its second whistleblower award and a top SEC official has predicted additional larger awards will soon be forthcoming. The award was issued in connection with an enforcement action against Andrey Hicks and his company, Locust Offshore Management, LLC. The SEC charged that both Hicks and Locust sold shares in a pooled investment fund that turned out to be fictitious.
