In Whistleblower 31276-13W v. Commissioner, 147 T.C. No. 4 (Aug. 3, 2016) filed last week, the U.S. Tax Court held that criminal fines and civil forfeitures constitute “collected proceeds” for the purposes of determining an award under IRS’s Whistleblower program. Husband and wife whistleblowers – described only as “Ps” as their identities were under seal –… Read more »
Senator Bob Menendez’s political corruption case will go forward under a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In a 22-count indictment, the government alleges that, from 2006 to 2013, Menendez solicited and accepted gifts from a Florida opthalmologist in exchange for, among other favors, (1) influencing an $8.9 million enforcement… Read more »
Christopher A. Iacono will speak at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s CLE titled, “Understanding Pennsylvania Grand Jury Practice.” The CLE will take place in Pittsburgh on July 15 and in Philadelphia on July 21, 2016.
South Carolina, in a move that is becoming increasingly common among various state legislatures (or their medical boards), is on the verge of completely re-writing its telemedicine law – including the often murky issue of when it is appropriate for physicians to prescribe medications (especially non-narcotic) via telemedicine visits in the absence of a prior… Read more »
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the “right to a speedy and public trial” to those accused in criminal proceedings. Federal and state courts have long grappled with the question whether speedy trial rights protect defendants from inordinate delays in sentencing. Recently, in Betterman v. Montana, Case No. 14-1457, the U.S. Supreme Court answered… Read more »
Recently, news broke that not one but two former high-ranking Pennsylvania state officials—former Treasurer Rob McCord and John Estey, the one-time top aide to Gov. Ed Rendell—secretly recorded conversations, potentially thousands of them, with political and business leaders at the behest of federal law enforcement. These revelations bring focus on the regulations concerning electronic surveillance… Read more »
On Wednesday, May 11, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) into law. The DTSA revolutionizes trade secrets practice at the federal level. Its passage will likely multiply the number of trade secrets cases litigated in federal court. We provide a few highlights: First, the DTSA allows the owners of trade secrets to… Read more »
On Thursday, April 28, 2016 Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell addressed the American Bar Association’s Institute on Internal Corporate Investigations regarding the Department of Justice’s Voluntary Disclosure Program. In a room full of defense attorneys, this pilot program was surely received with some skepticism. This new initiative is aimed to encourage corporate counsel to report potential wrongdoing… Read more »
The United States indicted twenty-five defendants in three Medicare Fraud cases, recently filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. William Maddalena, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Miami Division, dubbed South Florida “ground zero” for health care scams. These indictments detail two purported schemes involving Medicare Part D,… Read more »
The first few months of 2016 have witnessed a rash of investigations, and even indictments, involving compounding pharmacies throughout the United States. Previously beset by contamination scandals, the industry now faces widespread allegations of fraud. Significant Recent Developments On January 26, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Department of… Read more »