Boston Injury Lawyer Blog
Did you know that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s SEC Whistleblower Program also applies to reporting of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act? This means that if you are a whistleblower who reports original information regarding the bribery of a foreign official, you could be entitled to 10-30% of what is recovered as a result of your claim if monetary sanctions are over $1 million. If you have information about such wrongdoing and and are wondering whether this is enough to file a case, you should contact our Boston whistleblower lawyers at Altman & Altman, LLP right away. We can help you assess whether you have grounds for a claim.
Per the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, US Companies, US Citizens, and certain foreign companies are not allowed to offer to pay, promise to pay or actually make a payment to a foreign official/foreign political candidate/foreign political party with the intention of affecting the recipient or obtaining any improper upper hand in the obtaining or retaining of business. Under the act, a bribe is defined as “anything of value,” which may include money, its equivalent, gifts, property, charitable contributions, stock, commissions, stock options, discounts, employment offers, transportation, insurance benefits, services, use of facilities, equipment, and other items meant to exert influence on the other party.
There is no minimum value to what constitutes a bribe that violates the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Even if the payment has not actually been made yet, a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violation may still have occurred. (However, one except to the Act is when the payment is made to a foreign official to secure or expedite the execution of a routine government action.) Also, a person or company that makes the bribe does so through a third party, such as a foreign subsidiary, agent, distributor, or partner is not exempt from having committed a bribery violation.
Working with a whistleblower law firm not only increases the chances of a successful outcome, including the maximization of your whistleblower reward, but also, should you choose to protect your anonymity, and there are many reasons why this option may be important to you, your SEC whistleblower attorney can help you with this.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, US Department of Justice
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Pharmaceutical Fraud: GlaxoSmithKline Enters Guilty Plea to Allegations It Marketed Wellbutrin and Paxil for Unapproved Uses and Didn’t Report Avandia Clinical Data; Will Pay $3B, Forfeit $43 million, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, July 23, 2012
Virologists File Whistleblower Lawsuit Against Merck Over MMR Vaccine, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 16, 2012
Whistleblower Accuses Planned Parenthood Affiliate of Submitting $5.7M in Fraudulent Medicaid Claims, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, May 31, 2012
