Stack of hundred-dollar bills illustrating financial penalties and recoveries related to whistleblower cases.

Corruption Reports Highlight Worldwide Bribery Problem in 2016

The global problem of bribery isn’t going away anytime soon. Forty percent of all compliance officers reported the risk of bribery and corruption at their company will increase this year, according to the Kroll and Ethisphere Institute report released this morning: The 2016 Anti-Bribery and Corruption Report. Just 8 percent believed that their corruption risks...

United States Treasury check with dollar bills, representing COVID-19 relief fraud and financial misconduct in government programs.

Ninth Circuit Greenlights $1 Billion Whistleblower Case

A 2005 GAO report concerning problems in the Raytheon contract to develop an environmental satellite system did not bar a later False Claims Act lawsuit filed by a whistleblower under the public disclosure provision, according to the Ninth Circuit. Reuters put the value of the potential lawsuit at $1 billion in a recent headline about...

The Explosion of Hospice Fraud and the False Claims Act

One area of health care where there have been a handful of whistleblowers recently is hospice fraud. Hospice spending has exploded from nearly $3 billion in 2000 to over $15 billion in 2012, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article on hospice fraud published yesterday. If fraud prosecutions are any measure, there has been a fair...

Big Award for Compliance Whistleblower in Record Kickback Case

Earlier this week, medical device manufacturer Olympus agreed to pay the largest ever civil False Claims Act settlement by a medical device manufacturer to resolve a lawsuit over violations of the federal anti-kickback statute. In addition to the record $310.8 million, they also agreed to pay $312.4 million in criminal penalties. A reward of around...

Judge signing legal documents with gavel on wooden desk, symbolizing judicial processes related to whistleblower cases and legal representation.

SEC Whistleblower Gets Reward for Flash Crash Discovery

Bloomberg has reported the enforcement action and recipient of the first case of a reward for independent analysis by a SEC whistleblower (announced January 2016). The financial professional discovered a stock exchange data feed operating in violation of Regulation NMS on the day of the Flash Crash (May 6, 2010). The Securities and Exchange Commission,...

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Qualcomm Agrees to $7.5M Settlement with SEC Over FCPA Case

Another princeling investigation has wrapped up at the Securities and Exchange Commission, although this one didn’t involve suspicions of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by an investment bank. Instead, it was mobile technology company Qualcomm that paid $7.5 million to resolve the government probe into bribery of employees of state-owned enterprises in China....

U.S. Capitol building partially obscured by trees, symbolizing legislative discussions on whistleblower protections and tax fraud legislation.

New Bill for Bank Whistleblowers in Congress

Last week, Representative Elijah E. Cummings and Senator Tammy Baldwin proposed a bill to modify several financial industry laws including the Dodd-Frank Act and Sarbanes Oxley Act to enhance and extend whistleblower rewards and anti-retaliation protections for bank and Wall Street whistleblowers. For those looking to follow the legislation in the House of Representatives, the...

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Highlights of SEC Speaks 2016 for Whistleblowers

At the end of last week, the Practicing Law Institute held its annual SEC Speaks conference with employees of the Securities And Exchange Commission. The program typically offers a wide range of insight into the securities regulator’s priorities for the coming year. Here are three of the discussions that hit our rader for whistleblowers: Hacking...

Stack of U.S. hundred dollar bills representing financial implications in whistleblower cases and fraud.

Award Determination Appeals Offer Whistleblowers Hope

A Forbes article written by another whistleblower attorney is reporting the first settlements following appeals of award determinations by the Internal Revenue Service whistleblower program. The outcomes are remarkable because the IRS section 7623(b) program has been routinely criticized over the past few years for the dearth of payments given the sheer number of tips....

Tax documents including a withholding form, a pen, and a coffee cup on a table, reflecting themes of tax fraud and whistleblower protections.

IRS and CFTC Funding Fights Hamper Enforcement

Whistleblowers should continue to expect the government’s pursuit of some enforcement actions to be tempered by limited resources as both the IRS and CFTC have recently acknowledged insufficient funding is causing tough choices within their agencies. The USA Today reported today that the IRS audit rates for large U.S. corporations fell to their lowest level...

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