A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has announced that a study of 15 for-profit colleges shows that these colleges misled students to encourage enrollment, and that students were encouraged to commit fraud when applying for financial aid. The magnitude of the cost of such fraud on taxpayers is not known,…
A qui tam action under the False Claims Act brought in South Carolina would not be particularly interesting except for one small fact: the case is actually going to trial. In fact, the case is going to trial for the second time, after a jury found that Tuomey Healthcare System…
With the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act (AKA the Financial Reform Bill), the SEC now has more power to reward whistleblowers who report securities law violations with substantial payments. The first of these rewards came on July 23rd when Karen and Glen Kaiser of Connecticut received $1 million for their…
Panalpina Inc., a Swiss-based contracting company, has agreed to settle a False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback case with the government which alleged that the company illegally paid kickbacks to another military contractor to secure subcontracting work. Panalpina allegedly paid kickbacks to Kellogg Brown and Root, Inc., a logistics firm under…
Morganti Group, Inc. of Danbury, Connecticut has agreed to settle a False Claims Act case with the federal government for $800,000 which accused the construction company of submitting false claims for payment to the U.S. government in connection with two foreign assistance projects. Morganti submitted false documents to the United…
The National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) recently wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to use the False Claims Act (FCA) to recover the most money possible for losses sustained after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. The NWC told Mr. Holder: “When false…
Sacramento, CA – A student and three former employees have filed a California False Claims Act case against Universal Health Services, one of the nation’s largest health care management companies and owner of a Sacramento special education school called Creekside Academy. The lawsuit alleges that the private, for-profit school system…
A federal jury in New York has found Cornell University’s Weill Medical Center and former faculty member Wilfred van Gorp guilty of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by defrauding the National Institute of Health (NIH) in a research grant application. Weill Medical Center and Dr. van Gorp applied to…
Teva Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay $78 million to settle Medicaid fraud allegations in Florida and Texas. Teva owes the state of Florida $27 million due to alleged violations of the Florida False Claims Act. Teva allegedly reported inflated drug prices to Florida’s Medicaid Program, which caused Florida to overpay…
A multi-state agreement was reached between 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Alpharma Inc. on June 8 to settle allegations of kickbacks and off-label promotion of its drug, Kadian. A whistleblower receiving $5.33 million of the total $42.5 million settlement initially filed the lawsuit in 2006 under the False…