A key part of the job for whistleblower lawyers and government enforcers is fitting new facts to existing precedent. Despite fraudsters deploying what appear to be new and innovative ways to illicitly obtain government or investor funds, the crux of the scheme is often the same decade after decade. As [...]
Federal prosecutors continue the crack down on fraudsters that prey on innocent investors. On January 6, Daniel M. Gitner, Chief, Criminal Division, in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, announced that Yvette Wang a/k/a “Yanping” was sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiracy [...]
Athira Pharma Inc., a Bothwell, Washington-based, clinical stage bio-pharmaceutical company, will pay $4,068,698 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act. It failed to report claims of research misconduct to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Research Integrity [...]
In January 2025, the government announced that lab marketers, physicians and their associated entities have agreed to pay $1,137,914 to resolve False Claims Act allegations that they participated in laboratory kickback schemes in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. The parties involved include physicians Dr. Abbesalom Ghermay (from Plano, Texas); Dr. [...]
Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: The Fight Over Credit Card Swipe Fees Enters a New Year With No End in Sight NBC News – January 4, 2025 Many small businesses are breathing a bit easier as inflation has cooled and the race for workers slows. But consumers’ steady embrace of [...]
On December 29, 2024, the government announced that Buffalo, New York’s Independent Health Association and Independent Health Corporation (collectively known as Independent Health) have agreed to pay up to $98 million to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by submitting, or causing the submission of, invalid diagnosis [...]
Booz Allen closed out 2024 by agreeing to pay $15,875,000 to settle allegations that one of its subsidiaries, Booz Allen Hamilton Engineering Services LLC (BES), violated the False Claims Act by engaging misconduct in connection with the government’s procurement process. The FCA allegations centered around BES claims for payment related [...]
On January 3, Johnny Buscema Jr. from New Port Richey, Florida, and his companies, S.A.F.E. Structure Designs (in Las Vegas) and U.S.A. Manufacturing (in New Port Richey) agreed to pay $1,000,000 to resolve allegations that they engaged in bid rigging in violation of the False Claims Act. According to the [...]
In December 2024, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced the final rule in its whistleblower program. The rule reaffirms the importance of whistleblowers in vehicle safety and satisfies a mandate in the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act (“the Act”) that NHTSA establish regulations detailing the Act’s requirements. The rule adds [...]
Legal and Regulatory Developments SPOTLIGHT: Merchants Hit Back at a Banking Group’s Request That the Fed Hold Off on Reducing a Debit Interchange Cap Digital Transactions News – December 24, 2024 The Merchants Payments Coalition fired back late Monday at a request last week from the American Bankers Association that [...]
