Monthly Archives: February 2018
New Special Counsel Will Increase Efficiency of Whistleblower Retaliation Cases
Under federal law, it is illegal for agencies or offices to take any sort of action against an employee who reports wrongdoing or safety concerns. Of course, retaliation still unfortunately happens with some regularity, and it is the responsibility of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to investigate these cases and punish the offenders. The […]
Whistleblower Claims Medicaid Managed Firm Repeatedly and Improperly Denied Care
This fall, an executive at SynerMed, one of the largest physician-practice management firms in the nation, provided a report to her bosses that detailed how the company had improperly denied care to thousands of Medicaid patients and developed a system of falsifying documents to hide the evidence. The confidential report stated that the violations were […]
Whistleblower Reveals Healthcare Fraud Scheme in Twin Cities
Information a whistleblower provided recently led to federal prosecutors bringing a fraud case against a dermatology chain in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. According to an announcement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis, Skin Care Doctors and its founder, Michael Ebertz, settled the case with a payment of $850,000. Prosecutors alleged the practice routinely […]
Supreme Court to Hear Case Involving Whistleblower Retaliation
The U.S. Supreme Court announced it will take up a case that could determine if corporate whistleblowers have the same protections against retaliation when they report their concerns about misconduct internally as they do when they report them to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The case in question is Digital Realty Trust v. Somers. […]
SEC Awards More than $16 Million to Pair of Whistleblowers
On November 30, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of the Whistleblower announced a new award of more than $16 million paid to two whistleblowers. Each received an award of more than $8 million. According to the limited information released by the SEC, the first whistleblower provided the agency with original, important insights, […]
Google Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Issue of Equal Pay
Google is the most recent of a series of large companies to face class action lawsuits from women who allege they do not receive equal pay. This lawsuit comes at a time when Google has also been the subject to an Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program investigation related to its pay practices. In September, […]
Morgan Stanley Hit with $13 Million Penalty for Failure to Supervise Salespeople
According to a recent announcement, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has penalized Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC approximately $13 million for failure to supervise its salespeople’s short-term trades of unit investment trusts. This $13 million includes a fine of $3.75 million and about $9.78 million in restitution to the more than 3,000 customers affected […]
