Record Setting Whistleblower Recoveries in FY 2010 Fiscal Year 2010 was a record-setting year for recoveries under the False Claims Act (FCA). The United States Department of Justice announced in November 2010 that it had secured $3 billion in civil settlements and judgments in cases involving fraud against the United States in FY 2010. This… Read more »
For the third consecutive year, the Internal Revenue Service has failed to pay any informants under its newly minted whistleblower program. The old program, which was first codified in 1867, was generally considered a disappointment. In 2006, Congress passed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act, which created the IRS Whistleblower office and made rewards… Read more »
For years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) had a whistleblower program in place that would accept information about securities violations in exchange for the possibility of a financial reward if funds were recovered. Nonetheless, over the years only five whistleblower claims were ever paid. The reason appears clear. The program was administered entirely at… Read more »
On September 15, 2010, Antonio Ochoa was convicted by a federal jury in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and three counts of soliciting and receiving kickbacks and bribes. Mr. Ochoa was a home health patient recruiter for home health agencies, including… Read more »
Although the SEC has been accepting whistleblower claims for nearly one year since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Financial reform laws, the SEC has taken two big steps recently to enhance the whistleblower program. In May, the SEC approved comprehensive regulations that, in many respects, were favorable to whistleblower claims. Those regulations go into effect… Read more »
Articles In This Issue: 1. Walking A Fine Line: An Employer’s Right To Review Its Employee’s Electronic Messages 2. Workers’ Compensation Fraud: Tilting At Fraud Mills No Longer Quixotic 3. Building On Fraud: Qui Tam Issues In The Construction Industry 4. Federal Preemption Of Failure-To-Warn Claims After Wyeth v. Levine 5. Corporate Demise And The Search For… Read more »
As the federal and state governments across the United States spend billions of dollars to stimulate the economy and create jobs, many have asked how does the government ensure that taxpayer funds are not the target of fraud, waste and abuse. Although the federal and state governments employ thousands of law enforcement officers and auditors,… Read more »
Michael A. Morse authored “Deficit Reduction Act of 2005: False Claims Education Requirements and the Rise of State False Claims Acts,” which was published in the 2008 Health Law Handbook, Gosfield, Alice G., West Publications.
Articles In This Issue: 1. Collateral Wars 2. Virtual Testimony Andits Impact On The Confrontation Clause 3. Social Networking Sites: A Potential Hornet’s Nest For Employers 4. The Day The Supreme Court Failed To Consider 401(K) Liability: What Should Insureds Do To Reduce Their Exposure? 5. Walk The Line: Reporting Anticipated Fraud Violations May Be… Read more »