‘Qui Tam Whistleblower’ Category

Last week marked the 25th anniversary of the 1986 amendments to the False Claims Act. While it may seem strange to celebrate amendments to an Act that dates back to the Civil War, these amendments were instrumental in giving the False Claims Act the power it has today to combat fraud and demand accountability of those who try to take advantage of the U.S. government.

The False Claims...

The FBI suspects that employees of New York-based Murdoch News Corp. may be guilty of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The FCPA prohibits payments of bribes to foreign officials. Such violations could include corrupt payments such as bribing law enforcement for news tips.

Violations of FCPA can have very serious consequences for the company, for any employee...

Former dentist Michael Clair has been convicted of dental Medicaid fraud and sentenced to two and a half year’s jail time. Clair has admitted that, in his dental practice in Fall River, Massachusetts, he used bits of paper clips in place of stainless steel posts when performing root canals on his patients.

Clair used the paper clips to save money, but he billed Medicaid for the...

Dava Pharmaceuticals Inc. has agreed to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act. Dava Pharmaceuticals will pay the U.S. government $11 million to resolve claims that it misreported important information about its drugs in order to minimize its obligations to reimburse Medicaid under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program.

The Medicaid Drug Rebate Program requires drug companies to...

The Department of Justice has resolved a False Claims Act lawsuit involving overbilling Medicare for kyphoplasty procedures against 14 hospitals scattered across the United States, with the hospitals agreeing to pay a total of $12 million. This settlement resolves a small portion of the widespread fraud involving kyphoplasty procedures in this country. Since the U.S. Attorneys Office began...

Dr. Ping Cai, a dentist practicing in Hazlet, New Jersey, will face charges for submitting $39,000 in false claims from 2007 through 2009 to the New Jersey Medicaid program. Dr. Cai is alleged to have billed Medicaid for services she simply did not perform, such as filling cavities and relining and rebasing dentures.

Sadly, Dr. Cai is far from the only dentist to have submitted false...

Fraud against the U.S. government can take many forms, and the False Claims Act is a powerful weapon for holding the wrongdoers accountable. In 2009, the Department of Justice filed a False Claims Act case in the Central District of California against Capmark Finance LLC of Horsham, Pennsylvania. Shortly after the case was filed, Capmark filed for bankruptcy protection.

The lawsuit...

Gunnison Energy Corp. (GEC) and SG Interests I Ltd. and SG Interests VII Ltd. (SGI) have reached a settlement with the Justice Department, requiring the companies to pay $550,000 for violations of the False Claims Act and the Sherman Act. The charges grew out of a “no compete” agreement regarding bidding for natural gas leases sold at auction by the Bureau of Land Management...

CITIMORTGAGE, INC. will pay the U.S. government $158.3 million to settle charges under the False Claims Act as well as the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”). The federal government joined a lawsuit filed in 2010 by a private whistleblower under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow individuals who know or learn of fraud...

Concerned that lack of clarity on the demands of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act may be causing some companies to expend excessive resources to police possible bribes of foreign officials, Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Chris Coons of Delaware have asked Attorney General Holder to clarify how the U.S. Department of Justice understands the FCPA anti-bribery provisions....