The owner of a Pennsylvania hospice care business, Matthew Kolodesh, was convicted of Medicare fraud. Jurors found he billed Medicare for over $14 million in claims for patients that were not eligible to receive Medicare benefits. In many cases, the services were billed but never provided. Prosecutors say that Kolodesh spent $9.6 million of hospice […]
Whistleblower Case Leads to Settlement, Class Action Suit
Five students have filed a class action lawsuit against for profit Globe University after an earlier whistleblower case resulted in a $395,000 judgment against the school. The students claim the university misleads prospective students and lies about job placement rates. Earlier this summer, a former dean of the school, Heidi Weber, won a $395,000 judgment after […]
Anatomy of a False Claims Act Lawsuit
Recently we wrote about the record false claims act (whistleblower) award paid to pharmacist T. Mark Jones an his company Ven-A-Care. The sheer size of the awards – $597,000,000.00 is itself newsworthy and an inspiration to whistleblowers everywhere. Every time we write about a false claims act case, we get questions from readers. In this […]
FIRREA – An Overlooked Whistleblower Tool?
I chuckled this morning when reading the paper. The big financial news this week is the Department of Justice suit against Bank of America for the sale of residential mortgage backed securities. The article claims the plaintiff’s bar “is abuzz” over the government’s use of a little known law called the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery […]
College Pays Millions In Whistleblower Suit
Northwestern University settled federal fraud charges yesterday following a suit filed by a whistleblower under the federal False Claims Act. University administrators agreed to repay the government $3 million although admitted no wrongdoing. False claims act cases against non-profits are still rare but are increasing in frequency. According to the complaint unsealed yesterday, Professor Charles […]
Defense Contractor Whistleblower Gets $1.8 Award
A former project manager for Science Applications International was awarded $1.8 million for exposing a massive overbilling scheme according to an AP story carried in the Ventura County Star. Prosecutors claimed the company over charged the government for homeland security training programs. Science Applications is a Virginia based defense contractor that employs over 40,000 people […]
Inspector General Vacancies Hurt Whistleblowers
We were caught off guard this morning by a Wall Street Journal report revealing that several federal agencies had not filled Inspector General (IG) vacancies. Some agencies, like the State Department, have not had an inspector general since 2008! There are 78 inspector generals in the United States. Or at least there should be. Many […]
EPA Violates Buy America Act – Whistleblower Post
by Brian Mahany There are three major laws that require public works projects to use American made products. Buy America, Buy American and the federal transportation funding laws require projects built with federal money to be built with U.S. made components. From steel to machinery, all of the components must be purchased here unless a […]
Feds Charge Another Mortgage Lender – (Whistleblower Post)
by Brian Mahany Five years after the housing crisis began and the feds continue to pursue those responsible for the mess. Although the federal false claims act statute of limitations prevent some whistleblower cases from going forward, whistleblowers can still earn a hefty payday under FIRREA statute. FIRREA is short for the Financial Institutions Reform, […]
Alaska Whistleblower Wins $3.5 Million In Retaliation Claim
by Brian Mahany In a perfect world, companies would reward whistleblowers. In my law firm, for example, I would want to know if someone was stealing or breaking the law. Unfortunately, in these tough economic times, some businesses intentionally cut corners and whistleblowers in those companies often face retaliation. Congress and most states have said […]