CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge has upheld a jury’s $1.5 million award to a North Carolina fire investigator who said she was fired after complaining about the safety of construction work at an office building. The Charlotte Observer reports (http://bit.ly/2sqfOj4 ) that Friday’s decision by Chief U.S. District Judge Frank Whitney is a […]
For most people, the IRS is a nuisance. But for whistleblowers, the agency can be a kingmaker. In what is likely to be the largest whistleblower award in the Internal Revenue Service’s history, the agency may pay a former executive for Caterpillar (CAT) hundreds of millions of dollars for reporting on a shady tax strategy […]
The Government Accountability Project today praised Congressional action from last week that closed a technical, but significant, loophole in whistleblower law. On May 26, the Senate by unanimous consent followed House approval and passed the Follow the Rules Act. Nearly enacted last Congress, the legislation protects those who refuse orders to violate agency rules and […]
The EB-5 investment program, also affectionately known as the EB-5 visa-for-investment program, has experienced a dramatic increase in fraud and misrepresentation in EB-5 advertisements, EB-5 regional centers, and EB-5 projects. In 2016 alone, the SEC brought enforcement actions against nearly $1 billion worth of fraudulent EB-5 projects. The most common violations were misuse of investor funds […]
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has unanimously approved amendments to whistleblower rules that will, among other things, strengthen anti-retaliation protections for whistleblowers and enhance the agency’s process for reviewing whistleblower claims. Based on a reinterpretation of the CFTC’s anti-retaliation authority under the Commodity Exchange Act, the Commission or the whistleblower may now bring an action […]
Recently the FCPA blog ran an interesting piece about a $500,000 payout to a whistleblower. It reported that the SEC has now awarded $154 million to 44 whistleblowers. It’s a seemingly very considerable sum, which works out to an average of $3.5 million per successful whistleblower.
CHARLOTTE (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $1.5 million to a former North Carolina fire investigator who said she was fired after complaining about the safety of construction work at an office building. The Charlotte Observer reported that a jury ruled Thursday in favor of Crystal Eschert, who said the Charlotte Fire Department fired […]
The Senate introduced a bill Thursday that would legally establish the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, according to The Hill. The legislation, introduced by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., would allow U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, MD, to more easily dismiss poorly performing employees at all levels within […]
Seeger Weiss LLP and Milberg LLP today announced that the U.S. Department of Justice, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and several state Attorneys’ General Medicaid Fraud Units, have reached a $54 million settlement in a newly-unsealed healthcare fraud whistleblower action against CareCore National LLC. The company, headquartered in Blufton, […]
Employees who refuse to follow an order that would violate a law, rule or regulation would be protected from retaliation if new legislation gets signed into law. The Follow the Rules Act — introduced by Reps. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., and Gerry Connolly, D-Va. — adds a clarification to the Whistleblower Protection Act spurred by a misinterpretation by […]
