The country’s taxpayer-funded healthcare plans – Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE – provide important benefits to our aging citizens, our economically disadvantaged and our combat veterans that is necessary for millions to survive. However, greed coerces many bad actors to commit acts of fraud each year that cost taxpayers billions of…
Articles Posted in Whistleblower Lawsuits
Legg Mason to Pay More than $32 Million in Foreign Bribes Scheme
Fund giant Legg Mason has been ordered to pay more than $32 million to resolve a charge with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it was in violation of policies in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. According to the SEC, Legg Mason paid bribes to Libyan government officials from…
Penn State ruling a win for whistleblowing
A judge ruled last week that attorneys for former Penn State assistant football coach, Mike McQueary, would be awarded $1.7 million for legal fees incurred from disputing treatment he received after providing information that led to the arrest of Jerry Sandusky – the former Penn State football assistant football coach…
Whistleblower rights and protections
“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” – Thomas Jefferson The role of a whistleblower is indispensable in any truly democratic, free society. Whistleblowers throughout history have put aside their own fears of persecution, belittlement and, in some cases, imprisonment or…
Three common types of white collar fraud
The act of fraud – knowingly deceiving an individual, government entity or business, usually for personal profit – is unfortunately a common practice across the world, from something as small-time as selling a knock-off designer brand purse to something as high-profile as widespread corporate revenue schemes. Sometimes, perpetrators of fraud…
IRS Whistleblowing – Overview
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the federal governmental body responsible for collecting taxes from individual citizens as well as companies. Failing to pay taxes, criminally misreporting your wages or conducting other acts of tax fraud are serious crimes that can result in heavy fines and jail time. The IRS…
3 types of Medicare fraud to be aware of
Cases involving doctors, hospital staff, patients and administrators defrauding the federal government out of large amounts of money through healthcare scams are, unfortunately, almost a monthly occurrence. Medicare fraud results in higher healthcare costs for everyone, and it is estimated that the government loses billions of dollars every year as…
Overview of OSHA whistleblower protections
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) maintains a robust whistleblowing program which encourages and protects individuals who wish to report a safety concern from retaliatory penalties placed on them by their employers. You may submit a whistleblower report multiple ways, including an online form, a document which you may…
Tenent Healthcare busted for “Kickback Scheme”
Although there is no perfect system that can prevent all types of criminal activity, the United States federal government has secured some huge victories in recent times prosecuting enormously large healthcare companies found to be committing fraud and taking advantage of patients for their own financial gain. Both Tenet Healthcare…
Largest U.S. nursing care company pays $145 million settlement
Life Care Centers of America has agreed to pay out $145 million in a settlement with the United States government after it was discovered that they has been defrauding Medicare and TRICARE by overcharging for rehabilitation and therapy services that their patients did not require between 2006 and 2013. Through…