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This is Part 2 by whistleblower lawyer blog of a detailed overview of the federal False Claims Act and the new state False Claims Acts with qui tam whistleblower provisions. It is based on an article by whistleblower lawyer blog author Michael A. Sullivan, and is reprinted with permission of the Georgia Bar Journal.
This Part 2 discusses the sound policy reasons underlying the False Claims Act.
I. Why A “False Claims Act”?
(more…)We at whistleblower lawyer blog hope this detailed article assists those interested in the federal False Claims Act and the new state False Claims Acts with qui tam whistleblower provisions. A version of this article by whistleblower lawyer blog author Michael A. Sullivan [1] has just been published in the October 2007 Georgia Bar Journal. For ease of reading, we have divided the article in six parts–this is Part 1.
The federal False Claims Act [2] has inspired a
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We read today in the news that a Dr. Michael D. Kim in Houston, Texas had been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in yet another “motorized wheelchair fraud scheme.” According to the government’s indictment, Dr. Kim fraudulently approved thousands of Medicare beneficiaries for motorized wheelchairs in return for cash payments of $200.00 per beneficiary. According to the indictment, thousands of Medicare beneficiaries were brought by paid recruiters to Dr. Kim’s medical clinic in Houston between April of 2002 and October of 2003 for the
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It is estimated that the annual tax gap between those who owe money to the government as taxes and those who actually pay them (i.e. the annual underpayment of taxes) is $345 billion. Under the new IRS Whistleblower provisions, an insider with information about tax fraud can claim a minimum of 15% up to a maximum of 30% of back taxes collected by the government based on information received from the whistleblower. What this means is that each year if, in fact, the annual tax
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Last week, the United States Department of Justice announced that Bristol-Meyers Squibb (BMS) had entered into a settlement agreement to pay more than $515 million to resolve allegations of illegal drug marketing and pricing. This is yet another example where Big Pharma has attempted to gouge the government to increase profits, at the public’s expense. The allegations made by the government, regrettably, are all too familiar and have occurred in many other cases of a similar nature.
The first thing the government alleged was that
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This is Part II of this whistleblower lawyer blog’s description of how IRS Tax Whistleblower officials have explained many of the long-awaited details of the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program to whistleblower attorneys at the annual Taxpayers Against Fraud Conference in Washington, a national organization of whistleblower lawyers who represent whistleblowers under the False Claims Act, the state False Claims Acts, and the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program for tax whistleblowers. Both parts summarize information provided by IRS Whistleblower officials at this Conference, at which I had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion with the Director of the IRS Whistleblower Office, Stephen Whitlock, and later spending time with other IRS officials from the IRS group responsible for the Financial Services industry (including hedge funds), Large and Mid-Sized Business Division, Stuart Mann and Nicole Cammarota.
(more…)IRS officials explained long-awaited details of how the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program will work to whistleblower attorneys gathered last week at the annual Taxpayers Against Fraud Conference in Washington.
This whistleblower lawyer blog author had the pleasure of appearing with the Director of the new IRS Whistleblower Office, Stephen Whitlock, in a panel discussion on the new IRS Whistleblower Program. I enjoyed spending time with Director Whitlock and with the other participants, Professor Dennis Ventry of American University’s Washington College of
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Some of the country’s leading attorneys in qui tam whistleblower cases and IRS Whistleblower cases will gather for the “First Annual Whistleblower Law Symposium,” which will take place at the Georgia State Bar Headquarters on Thursday, September 20, beginning at 9:00 a.m. (See Agenda below). This Whistleblower Law Symposium is organized and co-chaired by the authors of this whistleblower lawyer blog, Michael A. Sullivan and Richard W. Hendrix.
(more…)Senators Specter and Leahy to Co-Sponsor Pro-Taxpayer Law to “Correct” Recent Court Decisions That Limited Effectiveness to Government of Qui Tam Whistleblower Law, the False Claims Act
In one of the most potentially significant developments ever discussed on this whistleblower lawyer blog, Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) announced today that he and Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) are co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill designed to restore the government’s primary tool for fighting fraud against taxpayers, the False Claims Act, to its intended effectiveness.
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Tomorrow in Washington, this whistleblowerlawyerblog author is looking forward to participating in a panel discussion with the Director of the new IRS Whistleblower Office, Stephen Whitlock, to explain how the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program works.
We will speak at the Taxpayers Against Fraud Annual Conference in Washington at 6 p.m. on September 9. Leading the panel discussion will be Paul Scott. I am also looking forward to the presentations by Erika Kelton and Professor Dennis Ventry of American University’s Washington
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We have followed closely the trend of states enacting their own versions of the nation’s chief whistleblower law the False Claims Act. North Carolina has become the newest state to enact its own False Claims Act, which is reprinted below.
We congratulate the State of North Carolina on a momentous accomplishment.
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Offshore tax abuses have been an IRS priority for some time, but the impending September 23, 2009 deadline for the IRS “Voluntary Disclosure” program–combined with the recent announcement that UBS has agreed with the IRS to release 4,450 names of U.S. account holders–has created a flurry of activity for the IRS.
Anxious taxpayers with exposure cannot be sure that their names are not on the list being produced. Last week, the IRS added a 52nd “FAQ” about the Voluntary Disclosure Program to explain its application to UBS account holders:
Q52. Are UBS account holders eligible to make a voluntary disclosure under the IRS’s offshore Voluntary Disclosure Practice (VDP) announced on March 23, 2009, and set to expire September 23, 2009?
(more…)Health care cases that our lawyers see most often involve whistleblowers who know of violations of the False Claims Act. While we also pursue many IRS violations under the IRS Whistleblower Program, the health care industry is not the source of most of those claims.
In perhaps a new trend, last week a federal court in Florida agreed with the IRS that a hospital CEO is personally liable for failing to pay over to the IRS close to $2 million in payroll taxes. (Doulgeris v. United States, M.D.Fla., August 03, 2009).
(more…)For a “webinar” on August 11, 2009, I have been asked to discuss not only potential liability under the False Claims Act for false or fraudulent claims to the federal government, but also what has been called the “Mini-False Claims Act”: the “Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act,” 31 U.S.C. §§ 3801-12,
Because it is not feasible for the government to handle under the False Claims Act every conceivable case of a false claim in procurement, the PFCRA was enacted so that smaller claims could be handled in an administrative process.
A major provision of the PFCRA, section 3802, is reprinted below:
(more…)How to pay for health care in the United States, as costs inexorably grow?
The IRS Whistleblower Program may help by narrowing the “tax gap”–the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid each year. Treasury’s latest estimate is that $345 billion owed remains uncollected from those who engage in tax fraud, tax evasion, and other tax noncompliance. (“Update on Reducing the Federal Tax Gap and Improving Voluntary Compliance”).
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, D-Mont., raised this tax gap with the next IRS Chief Counsel, William J. Wilkins, on July 14: “We’re right now trying to figure how to pay for healthcare reform,” Baucus told Wilkins. “And it’s ironic that coincidentally, the amount we are trying to raise is that amount.”
(more…)At the 20th Annual Convention of NELA, the National Employment Lawyers Association, I recently had the pleasure of moderating a panel discussion of some of the country’s top “whistleblower” lawyers. The topic was “The Most Pressing Issues in Representing Whistleblowers.”
Joining me in this panel discussion were Richard Renner and David J. Marshall. Richard is an attorney with Kohn & Colapinto in Washington, DC. and also serves as Legal Director of the National Whistleblowers Center. David is a partner with Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP
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Could a meaningful SEC “whistleblower” program prevent the next Madoff or Stanford debacle? The SEC and legislators are now seriously considering that question. That Madoff managed to defraud investors for so long proves that the current system is inadequate.
Past experience proves that incentives to whistleblowers to report illegal acts work. The nation’s primary “anti-fraud” statute that protects federal funds, the False Claims Act, has been extremely successful in encouraging whistleblowers to come forward by allowing them to share in the government’s recovery.
(more…)The statute authorizing the SEC in insider trading cases to pay whistleblowers “bounties” of up to 10% of civil penalties is below. (See our separate post discussing why the SEC needs a new, meaningful whistleblower program to help stop the next Madoff scheme.)
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Today was a monentous day for those who believe in integrity in how taxpayer funds are treated.
President Obama signed into law today the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009, which makes important amendments to the country’s most important tool for fighting fraud, the False Claims Act.
Also important today, the Obama administration announced an expansion of DOJ’s health-care strike forces, which are designed to combat fraud in Medicare and Medicaid programs. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Health and Human
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Last Fall, and again in March 2009, whistleblower lawyer blog co-author Michael A. Sullivan had the pleasure of sitting down with IRS Whistleblower Office Director Steve Whitlock, for an in-depth interview on the “best practices” for lawyers in pursuing IRS Whistleblower claims for their whistleblower clients.
The interview has just been published in the April 2009 False Claims Act & Qui Tam Quarterly Review. It includes some of the important points made by Director Whitlock at the IRS Whistleblower Boot Camp sponsored by Taxpayers Against Fraud in March, 2009, about which we have written previously.
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