Orange and White Prescription Bottle On Table, suggesting the opioid epidemic

Behind the Opioid Epidemic

Contributing to the Opioid Epidemic The United States Department of Justice and numerous state governments have intervened in numerous qui tam whistleblower suits, including one brought by Philadelphia based law firm Young Law Group against INSYS Therapeutics, Inc. [1]. The suit alleges, among other things, that INSYS engaged in a nationwide illegal scheme to increase...

Closeup of Library Book Spines, representing whistleblower report and Internal SEC Whistleblowers

SEC Issues Annual Whistleblower Report for 2017

Annual Whistleblower Report is Here The annual SEC whistleblower report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2017 has been released. It provides information and data about the activities of the SEC Whistleblower Office (referred to in the report as OWB) from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017. Over the year period, the SEC received over...

Gold bar lot, referring to Precious Metals Fraud

Precious Metals Fraud Takes Customers for $290 Million

Precious Metals Fraud Affecting Thousands of Retail Customers The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed an enforcement action against one of the largest precious metals fraud cases in its history. In light of that action, we thought it important to remind victims and industry professionals about the CFTC whistleblower program, which offers rewards for...

Spilled Bottle of Yellow Capsule Pills, representing drug Fraud and off-label marketing abuse

Off-Label Marketing Lawsuit: Celgene Settles for $280M

Celgene Settles Off-Label Marketing Case Celgene agreed to pay $280 million to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit brought in California accusing it of promoting two cancer drugs for unapproved uses. Pharmaceutical companies may only promote drugs for their FDA-approved indications even though doctors may legitimately prescribe them for off-label purposes. The False Claims Act...

Crop doctor with stethoscope in hospital, representing hospice fraud and medical malpractice reform

Remove Medical Malpractice Reform from Trump Budget

Medical Malpractice Reform Threatens Individuals The Trump Administration’s budget proposal for 2018 includes another attempt to pass tort reform for medical malpractice lawsuits. We strongly oppose this effort to weaken compensation for injury victims and urge you to inform your elected representatives that you do not support it. The proposal includes a $250,000 cap on...

Bank buildings, representing Citigroup Accused of Spoofing

How 700 Bank Whistleblowers Get Ignored

700 Bank Whistleblowers Ignored Like much of America, we have been following the story of Wells Fargo’s sales tactics and the government response to it. We haven’t discussed this matter in depth yet here on our blog (just a brief comment about its implications for whistleblower retaliation), so I thought we would discuss it following...

Man in front of a sunset, representing confidentiality for SEC whistleblowers

Court Rules Definitively on Confidentiality for SEC Whistleblowers in 2017

Decision on Confidentiality for SEC Whistleblowers A U.S. District Court in the Southern District of California has recently ruled on the validity of a SEC whistleblower’s defense to the enforcement of a company’s confidentiality agreement. In the decision, the Court accepts the validity of a public policy defense to a limited whistleblower disclosure of confidential information...

100 Us Dollar Banknotes, representing False Claims Act

Rising Costs of Retaliation Against Whistleblowers

Firing whistleblowers for informing the government about corporate activities has been standard practice at many businesses for a long time. That practice may be changing quickly if the government continues to pursue enforcement actions against companies engaged in retaliation and juries continue to provide multi-million dollar verdicts to whistleblowers. This week, the media reported an...

Crashing Waves, representing disaster relief fraud and whistleblower retaliation

Whistleblower Retaliation: A Turning Point in 2016?

The Prevalence of Whistleblower Retaliation The prevalence of retaliation by corporations against whistleblowers has been well documented. Not only does it serve to punish those who come forward, but it has a chilling effect on other employees who might speak out against wrongful conduct. Employees in these companies quickly learn that the policies protecting whistleblowers...

Close up of Court, representing Expanded Whistleblower Program

SEC Boosts AML BSA Enforcement with SARs Action

A piece of news about Vincente Martinez leaving the SEC alerted us to the first SEC enforcement action of the Bank Secrecy Act against a broker-dealer solely for failing to file suspicious activity reports (SARs) on time. Martinez was the original Director of the CFTC Whistleblower Office before returning to the SEC in 2013....

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