NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/business/dealbook/a-whistle-blower-tells-of-health-insurers-bilking-medicare.html Before we can talk about Benjamin Poehling, the whistleblower claiming UnitedHealth Group and others have been systematically scamming Medicare for years, we need to talk about a program called Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage was created in 2003 as a way to fix the budget crisis Medicare faced. This program gave part of…
In April of this year several hospices with facilities across the country agreed to pay $12.2 million to settle claims that they violated the False Claims Act by paying doctors and nurses for hospice referrals. Hospice is a specialized type of in-home care intended to maintain or improve the quality of life for someone whose…
Most of us have heard the term “whistleblower” before, and some of us may even be familiar with people called whistleblowers through the media (the 2010 movie Whistleblower and the HBO show The Newsroom spring to mind). But who are these people really? And what do they have to do with the False Claims Act?…
In late April, the United States Department of Justice and the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation settled a case out of court where the Justice Department claimed that the Foundation was misusing funds in violation of the federal False Claims Act. Without admitting liability, the Foundation and its principal, Dr. Alan Curtis, agreed to settle for…
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 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…
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…
What can you do if your boss is unethical or demands that you do unethical things? Well, if the boss happens to be cheating the federal government, the answer is quite a bit. And you can be rewarded for it. Sometimes handsomely. A person who “blows the whistle” on fraud is entitled to a reward…