Category: Financial Industry
Takeaways:
- Stock promoters have moved from boiler rooms and stock newsletters to social media services.
- The COVID-19 pandemic and the “meme stock” mania that accompanied it brought an influx of retail traders to public markets.
- Those retail investors have proven to be prime fodder for social media stock promoters.
Takeaway: Misconduct in the multitrillion dollar derivatives market can lead to massive recoveries for the government and whistleblowers alike. Even when the CFTC is already on the case, a whistleblower who tips off the government during an ongoing investigation may remain eligible for an award if they provide original information that “substantially contributes” to a successful enforcement action.
Takeaway: The H.I.G. case will no doubt embolden the Department of Justice and whistleblowers going forward. Now DOJ and relators have a strong summary judgment opinion to ground liability in future cases and several sizeable recoveries against PE firms to use as comparators for settlement purposes. With a more rigorous regulatory environment under the Biden administration,
- January 18, 2021
- Construction, Defense Industry, Federal False Claims Act, Financial Industry, Government Contracts, Healthcare, Investigations, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Part D, Pharmaceuticals, Research, State False Claims Acts
Takeaways:
- Over $300 million awarded to whistleblowers.
- Dip in recoveries reflects pandemic and economic challenges.
- Number of FCA filings hits a record.
- Healthcare continues to dominate FCA recoveries with kickbacks a major focus.
- Rebound in recoveries is likely as defendants regain financial footing.
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 fraud.
- January 06, 2020
- Construction, Defense Industry, Federal False Claims Act, Financial Industry, Government Contracts, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Part D, Pharmaceuticals, State False Claims Acts
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,
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 expensive compound drugs,
In the first-of-its-kind enforcement action, The Securities and Exchange Commission accused a hedge fund adviser, Paradigm Capital Management, Inc. and its owner Candace King Weir, of squashing a top trader after learning that he reported trade violations at the firm.
Paradigm had failed to meet their obligations to obtain client’s consent prior to conducting trades.
JP Morgan is the most recent Wall Street firm to write a check, a whopping $614 million, to the government to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underwriting non-compliant mortgages that received federal insurance coverage from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
Tracking the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, new legislation would establish whistleblower bounties and protections for information given to the New York State Department of Financial Services (“DFS”) – a super agency formed in October 2011 to regulate banks and insurance companies in New York.