Category: State False Claims Acts

2020 False Claims Act Recoveries: $2.2 Billion in Recoveries and Over $309M in Awards to Whistleblowers

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.

Calling Insiders With Information on Pandemic Fraud, Waste & Abuse

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.

International Whistleblowing Legislation and America’s False Claims Act

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,

Sanofi Aventis Can’t Invoke the First Amendment to Escape FCA Liability

United States ex rel. Gohil v. Aventis, Inc. is a long-running False Claims Act suit filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by an ex-sales specialist against his former employer, behemoth pharmaceutical company, Sanofi Aventis.  Relator Yoash Gohil filed this qui tam suit in 2002 alleging that his former employer engaged in a fraudulent marketing scheme to promote off-label the chemo-therapy drug,

Confidentiality Agreement Does Not Curb Former Employee’s Whistleblower Suit

A whistleblower’s retention and disclosure of confidential documents did not amount to breach of his employment contract, according to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

In United States ex rel. Cieszyski v. LifeWatch Services, Case No. 13-cv-4052 (N.D. Ill.), relator and one-time LifeWatch salesperson Matthew Cieszyski alleges that his former employer violated federal and state False Claims Acts (“FCAs”) by submitting for government reimbursement claims for heart monitoring services that violated relevant Medicare and Medicaid regulations.

Vermont Governor Signs State False Claims Act into Law

On May 19, 2015, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law a state false claims act that largely mirrors the federal False Claims Act, including the ability of a qui tam relator to bring an action on behalf of the state. Whistleblowers will be enticed to report fraud in companies doing work for state and local governments through the new Vermont False Claims Act,

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