Monthly Archives: June 2015
More Evidence Gathered in Whistleblower Claim Against ALEC
New evidence from nonprofit advocacy organizations Common Cause and the Center for Media and Discovery bolsters claims that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been falsely portraying itself as a tax-exempt organization, while using money from taxpayers to fund lobbying practices for its own private interests. Common Cause originally filed the tax fraud whistleblower […]
Major Recent Developments in International Anti-Corruption
There have been some significant developments in the world of international anti-corruption laws in recent months. The following are a few examples: Greater transparency in corporate charging decisions. Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice Leslie Caldwell recently made a promise to increase transparency in the way the division issues […]
Fourth Circuit Ruling Makes Retaliation Claims Harder to Dismiss
Reya C. Boyer-Liberto, a cocktail waitress, recently filed a lawsuit against the Maryland hotel she worked at, claiming she was fired after complaining about people using racial slurs against her. The defendant, the Fontainebleau Corporation, originally won the case by summary judgment, but the Fourth Circuit Court reviewed the case and found that should instead […]
Sarbanes-Oxley Case Clears Up Issues of Pleading Knowledge of Protected Whistleblowing
The recent decision in the Pennsylvania case of Westawski v. Merck & Co, Inc. clarified a rule stating whenever someone files a whistleblower complaint about a Sarbanes-Oxley violation against a corporation and he or she “alleges facts that [he or she] engaged in protected activity” directly to oversight committees, supervisors or the corporation, then that […]
US Marshals Whistleblowers Claim Officials Use Freedom of Information Act for Retaliation
Multiple whistleblowers have come forward from the U.S. Marshals Service, claiming that leadership within the agency uses requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to retaliate against individuals because they sought to report various abuses of power. Among the claims made by the whistleblowers is that the U.S. Marshals Service has a major problem […]
Whistleblower Compliance Officer Receives $1.4 Million Award from SEC
On April 22, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an award of between $1.4 million and $1.6 million given to a compliance officer who alerted authorities to wrongdoing within a large company. Because of confidentiality laws, the SEC was not able to reveal the name of either the whistleblower or the business. However, […]
Department of Justice Takes Active Role in Lawsuit Against Nursing Home Chain
For the past six years, the Ohio-based nursing home chain HCR ManorCare has been embroiled in a whistleblower lawsuit featuring allegations that the company systematically overbilled Medicare and often put its residents through overly rigorous rehabilitation schedules in efforts to increase revenue. Now the U.S. Department of Justice is stepping in, which means an end […]
Rutgers Pays Nearly $2 Million to Settle Whistleblower Claims Against UMDNJ
Rutgers University recently merged with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, but as a result it also inherited a pair of ongoing whistleblower claims against that school. Those cases were recently settled for a combined award of nearly $2 million. In one of the lawsuits, the former chief financial officer of UMDNJ’s […]
Whistleblower Claims San Antonio VA Still Guilty of Altering Wait Time Information
Over the past year, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been a fixture in national news for the controversies surrounding the extremely long wait times veterans have experienced for benefits and treatment, and the efforts VA officials took to cover up those issues. Although the federal government has put numerous programs in place since […]
