Less than four days after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) had designed some of its diesel models to cheat emissions tests, lawyers have brought at least 25 class actions on behalf of scores of car owners in all 50 U.S. states. Tony Mastando of Alabama’s Mastando & Artrip sued on behalf…
A whistleblower is someone who exposes wrongdoing. When that wrongdoing involves fraud on the government, Congress wants whistleblowers to step forward. In fact, Congress created special laws to encourage people with inside knowledge of fraud to come forward and then protects them when they do. Whistleblowers can use these federal and state laws to expose…
Yes, when an applicant uses a “virtual office” as a principle place of business, a HUBZone certification can be grounds for a false claims act case. On April 8th, for example, the Department of Justice announced that a company agreed to pay $250,000 to resolve allegations that it made false statements to the Small Business…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a record $5.69 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in fiscal year 2014. Of this total, the government paid out $435 million to the whistle blowers who exposed fraud and false claims by filing a qui tam complaint —…
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is circulating newly-minted draft rules for regulation of the Internet. He proposes to use some old-school utility regulation to keep the large infrastructure companies (read: cable and phone companies, like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T) from slowing down content on the Internet for their own competitive and monetary advantage. What this means…
Gas prices at the pump have dropped by half. A year ago gasoline hovered around $4 per gallon in North Alabama — now it’s crashed below the $2 mark. Filling the tank has gotten a lot less painful, and I find myself driving more because of it. Since the average US household uses around…
The Securities and Exchange Commission released an informative video by Sean McKessy, who is the Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. As Mr. McKessy explains in the video embedded below, the SEC has its own special Whistleblower Program to award tipsters who report violations of securities laws. The Commission can award a…
Anyone with a fax machine or fax account has received them – ads for vacations in Orlando, Las Vegas or Cancun; the latest mortgage rates and refinancing options — fabulous offers all! Like autumn leaves, they fall from paper fax machines or clog the gutters of online fax accounts. Some ads are legit. Others, not…
October was a good month for whistleblowers who reported that their employers were submitting false claims for labor charges to the government. Boeing Overbilled the Air Force In another recent case alleging overbilling billing by a defense contractor, Boeing paid $23 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit brought by current and former Boeing employees under…
Defense contractors that submit false bills to the government face fines and prosecution by the Department of Justice. A recent case stretching back nearly 10 years shows the long reach of the False Claims Act. The Whistleblower Settlement By DRS DRS Technical Services, Inc. agreed to pay $13.7 million to settle allegations that it violated…