Category: Federal False Claims Act
In a recently-unsealed filing, California became the second state to join in a False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit originally brought in 2007 against Education Management Corporation (“EMC”), a for-profit college company that operates 14 campuses in California under the “Argosy University” and “Art Institute” brands.
The suit, which was brought by two former employees,
In a speech delivered on Monday, May 24, 2011, California Attorney General Kamala Harris promised that her newly-formed Mortgage Fraud Strike Force would employ the state’s “robust” False Claims Act to hold those who commit mortgage fraud accountable.
“We are prepared to use it in a way that will look at all those who have made false statements or misled investors of any nature – be they individuals,
On May 13, 2011, in a case of apparent first impression, Judge John Gleeson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York held that medical services defendants may not implead their billing company where the Government, after intervening in a False Claims Act suit, asserts claims for unjust enrichment and payment by mistake.
With great anticipation, the SEC adopted its final regulations governing the new whistleblower program under the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. Most significantly, the SEC did away with a proposed requirement that whistleblowers first report wrongdoing internally before reporting to the SEC, despite strong opposition from corporate lobbyists. The SEC did provide enhanced remedies for whistleblowers that decide to first report internally by reaffirming that such whistleblowers will still be eligible for an award,
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania became the first municipal government in Pennsylvania and the fourth nationwide to adopt a false claims act. The new ordinance, based generally on the Federal False Claims Act allows a private individual to file a complaint for false claims after the county Solicitor has investigated the allegations of the complaint and declined to intervene.
According to a report in the Huffington Post, recent confidential federal audits accuse the nation’s five largest mortgage companies of defrauding taxpayers in their handling of foreclosures on homes purchased with government-backed loans. Five separate investigations conducted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general examined Bank of America,
In Schindler Elevator v. United States ex rel. Kirk, the United States Supreme Court held that a federal agency’s written response to a FOIA request for records constitutes a “report” within the meaning of the False Claims Act’s public disclosure bar. The Court looked to the dictionary definition for “report”,
Changes to the law in 2006 guaranteed whistleblowers between 15 and 30 percent of any IRS recovery based upon information provided by a whistleblower. More recent changes guarantee that the IRS receives its cut of these whistleblower payouts. The IRS has announced that it intends to withhold taxes from the whistleblower award payments that it makes.
United States Attorney Stephen J. Murphy and the Department of Justice announced that ABN AMRO Mortgage Group, Inc. (ABN) has agreed upon a settlement with the United States government valued at over $41 million evolving from a False Claims Act case in connection with over 28,000 federally insured mortgages. This payment by ABN is one of the largest ever acquired in a civil settlement by the U.S.
Senators Charles Grassey (Republican – Iowa) and Patrick Leahy (Democrat – Vermont) have introduced a bill to fellow members of the Senate Judiciary Committee which, if passed, would redirect a fraction of the money recovered through fraud cases back into the Justice Department to help with their anti-fraud enforcement activities.
