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 [...]
On December 30, 2024, the government shared an important update on its Madoff Ponzi Scheme victim recovery distribution efforts. The Madoff Victim Fund (MVF) shelled out over $131.4 million to victims in its 10th and final round of distributions to victims of the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) [...]
While many of us are enjoying the slowdown typically accompanying the holiday season, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been hard at work with a flood of False Claims Act successes to usher in the New Year. In the last two weeks alone, DOJ has secured roughly a dozen such [...]
The “Punk Poet Laureate” has played a unique role in music by blending poetry, punk rock, and countercultural ideas that have profoundly influenced culture and literature. Smith’s raw, evocative lyrics often address cultural, social, and political issues with bold themes, creating art without compromise. She embraces personal freedom, authenticity, individualism, [...]
On December 20, 2024, the government announced that 16 cardiology practices and physicians across 12 states will pay a total of $17,761,564 to settle claims that they overbilled Medicare for diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals and thereby violated the False Claims Act (FCA). Diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals are “radioactive drugs that healthcare providers use for [...]
“In August, we launched the Criminal Division’s Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program to fill gaps in existing whistleblower programs and encourage individuals to come forward with information. To date, we’ve received approximately 250 unique submissions… I’m especially excited that we’ve seen reports about potential FCPA violations in non-issuer cases, a [...]
On December 22, Singapore Post announced it terminated three individuals including the CEO and two senior executives following an internal investigation that determined the company mishandled allegations about employees’ misconduct in business operations. According to Reuters, a whistleblower came forward with complaints about several workers in the company’s international e-commerce [...]
On December 19, AAR Corp. agreed to pay $55 million to settle Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying bribes to secure business from state-owned airlines in Nepal and South Africa. Apparently, the Illinois-based aviation services [...]