News

July 28, 2014 July 28, 2014 — Short selling regulations like rule 105 exist to protect the marketplace from manipulative trading activity. Traders are not permitted to short sell equity shares during a restricted period of time ahead of a public offering. To discourage short selling violations, and other violations in the financial sector, the U.S. Congress established a whistleblower program as part of the...

July 25, 2014 July 25, 2014 — The U.S. government encourages informants to help combat government contractors’ fraudulent billings by bringing a False Claims Act lawsuit. Without conscientious whistleblowers, the government cannot possibly apprehend all of the unscrupulous federal contractors willing to file false claims against the government. To reward tipsters willing to come forward, the qui tam...

July 23, 2014 July 23, 2014 — The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (“FIRREA”), enacted after the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, is being employed today to address misconduct in the banking industry that helped to bring about the 2008 financial crisis. In particular, FIRREA targets schemes that defraud a federally insured financial institution or that cause the...

July 21, 2014 July 21, 2014 — Because Medicaid is funded in part with federal tax dollars, U.S. taxpayers everywhere have an interest in ensuring that claims are properly filed in every state. The federal False Claims Act helps whistleblowers working inside dental clinics to make a difference by filing a qui tam lawsuit for the government’s benefit. The statute’s whistleblower provisions entitle tipsters...

July 18, 2014 July 18, 2014 — Two more brokers have been charged with trading on inside information in advance of the 2009 acquisition by IBM Corporation of SPSS Inc. Sharing or trading on nonpublic information is a crime that undermines the public’s trust in the markets. To protect investors, the U.S. Congress initiated a whistleblower program in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection...

July 11, 2014 July 11, 2014 — A New York hedge fund advisory firm has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with conducting forbidden principal transactions and then engaging in retaliatory actions against the employee who reported the misconduct. This is the first anti-retaliation enforcement action brought by the SEC under the authority given the agency under a 2011 rule authorized...

July 9, 2014 July 9, 2014 — Company insiders often learn about confidential revenue information that could be misused to make illicit personal profits. But sharing or trading on nonpublic information is a crime. To protect investors and discourage illegal insider trading, the U.S. Congress set up a whistleblower program in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010....

July 7, 2014 July 7, 2014 — Omnicare Inc. will pay more than $124 million to settle False Claims Act allegations of Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Under the qui tam provisions of the statute, whistleblowers who collaborate with the Justice Department by filing a lawsuit for the government’s benefit are eligible for a share of the government’s recovery. Two Whistleblowers Allege That Omnicare Violated...

July 4, 2014 July 4, 2014 — A California federal court has approved a $22.5 million partial settlement in a multibillion-dollar federal and state False Claims Act case involving defective PVC pipes. Under the qui tam provisions of the federal False Claims Act, insider employees who notify the government by filing a lawsuit are eligible for a significant portion of the government’s...