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.
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,
On April 1, 2015, the SEC announced its first whistleblower protection case involving restrictive confidentiality language. The agency charged the Houston-based engineering and technology firm KBR, Inc., with using overly restrictive language in confidentiality agreements that allegedly obstructed the whistleblowing process.
The provision at issue contained language that witnesses in certain internal investigations could be disciplined,
In 2014, the total whistleblower recoveries amounted to just shy of $3 billion, $2.2 billion (73 percent) of which were in the health care arena.
When the Department of Justice announces a False Claims Act recovery, they put the total recovery into the headline (the total amount that the fraudster is paying as a result of the FCA action),
On behalf of their client Michael Epp, the law firms Morgan Verkamp LLC (Cincinnati) and Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP (Philadelphia) note the settlement of claims initiated by Mr. Epp alleging fraud on the part of Supreme Foodservice, the “prime vendor” of food and related items to the Department of Defense and coalition troops in Afghanistan from 2005 until at least 2009.
After admitting in April 2014 to creating a front company, in order to obtain Cost Guard contracts designated for Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), North Florida Shipyards as well as its president, Matt Self, have agreed to pay the United States $1 million to resolve False Claim Act allegations.
After a coordinated investigation by the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado and the Defense Criminal Investigative Services (DCIS), First RF Corporation has agreed to pay $10 million to settle False Claim Act violations. The allegations arose over a 2005 Army contract with First RF for the sale of electronic warfare antennas.
On Thursday, January 30, 2014, a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that Northrop Grumman defrauded the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) was unsealed in federal Court. According to the suit, which was filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by former Northrop Grumman employee Leo Danilides, Northrop Grumman violated the terms of a DHS missile-defense contract for commercial airlines under the Counter-MANPADS program.
Illinois-based hardware distributor, W.W. Grainger Inc., has agreed to pay $70 million to the United States to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims under contracts with the General Services Administration and the U.S. Postal Service.
For more information, please see:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/December/12-civ-1545.html
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.