Whistleblower Blog Archives - Page 21 of 36

Whistleblower Blog

New State False Claims Act Trend Is Evaluated at Southeastern Health Care Fraud Conference in Atlanta

September 8, 2007
Michael Sullivan

Yesterday I enjoyed leading a panel discussion of the new State False Claims Acts, at the Southeastern Health Care Fraud Conference in Atlanta. Of particular interest to this audience was the new Georgia State False Medicaid Claims Act that became law in May 2007, which has qui tam whistleblower provisions similar to the federal False Claims Act.

Our audience of health care attorneys heard a detailed account of Florida’s successes with its State False Claims Act by Mark S. Thomas, the Chief
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Confidentiality of IRS Tax Whistleblowers or Informants–Federal Regulation on Keeping Whistleblowers Confidential

August 22, 2007
Michael Sullivan

Our potential tax whistleblower clients–who call our attorneys about participating in the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program–regularly ask before they proceed if the IRS will keep their identities confidential.

Across the country, the IRS Special Agents we have been dealing with in representing our tax whistleblower clients (for example, in New York, Las Vegas, Dallas, and Atlanta, to name a few) have consistently answered the question the same way. Confidentiality is addressed by Treasury Regulations applicable to the IRS, which provide in part
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Whistleblower Lawyer Blog Update: Kickback Allegations Lead IBM and PriceWaterhouseCoopers to Settle False Claims Act Liability

August 21, 2007
Michael Sullivan

One of the many types of fraud and false claims that whistleblowers can report to whistleblower attorneys is unlawful “kickbacks” paid by companies that do business with the federal government.

The Justice Department has announced a settlement with IBM and PriceWaterhouseCoopers for more than $5.2 million, to resolve allegations that these firms violated the False Claims Act through business arrangements that allegedly constituted unlawful kickbacks. The announcement followed a whistleblower suit under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which
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Reverse False Claim Act Case Settlment Announced by Justice Department

August 17, 2007
Michael Sullivan

The Minerals Management Service of the U. S. Department of Interior is responsible for the collection of royalties on federal and Indian leases. Companies who have such leases are required to report to the Department of Interior the value of natural gas produced (or minerals mined) from federal and Indian leases and to pay a percentage to the government as royalties. When the entity that has the duty to pay the royalties files a false report and misstates what the collected revenues were, this is
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Whistleblower Lawyer Update: Medicaid Fraud Investigation Into Fraudulent Pharmacy Billings Produces Recovery in Missouri

August 13, 2007
Michael Sullivan

Medicaid Fraud Recovery Announced by Missouri Attorney General
False and fraudulent billings were uncovered in a Missouri Medicaid fraud investigation that has produced a recovery by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Billings like this typically violate the False Claims Act or the various state False Claims Acts.

Prescriptions that had not been authorized by physicians were submitted and paid for by the Medicaid program. Once the suspicious activity was reported, the Attorney General’s Office’s investigation followed and produced
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Statute of Limitations for a Tax Whistleblower Case Under the IRS Whistleblower Program

August 9, 2007
Michael Sullivan

From potential clients seeking information about the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program that our attorneys have written about extensively, questions have been asked about the statute of limitations for tax whistleblower cases.

If a whistleblower informant possesses information concerning false of fraudulent tax returns filed with the intent to evade taxes, 26 U.S.C. § 6501(c)(1) provides for no statute of limitations. In the case of a willful attempt in any manner to defeat or evade income tax obligations, once again, the IRS may
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Whistleblower Lawyer Update: Medical Equipment Fraud, Fraudulent Billing by Doctor, and Home Health Care Fraud Highlight Week of Indictments in Health Care Compliance Cases

August 6, 2007
Michael Sullivan

This past week produced examples of why whistleblowers and their attorneys must continue to insist that false claims and health care fraud not be tolerated. The indictments of Texas medical equipment suppliers–who are alleged to have overbilled Medicare and Medicaid for expensive scooters and chairs while providing cheaper ones –show how prevalent false claims are.

The indictment of a physician in West Virginia for allegedly falsifying the time spent in patient visits shows another common type of health care fraud and false claims.
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Should a Tax Whistleblower in the New IRS Whistleblower Program Use an IRS Form 3949?

July 28, 2007
Michael Sullivan

Question about the new IRS Whistleblower Rewards Program: if you go to the Internal Revenue Service’s website, the IRS notifies persons that, if they have evidence of suspected tax violations, they should use a Form 3949 and send it to an Internal Revenue Service Office in Fresno, California. While this blog is not legal advice, we have not seen a basis for individuals seeking a reward under the new IRS Whistleblower Program for blowing the whistle to utilize this form. The reason is because
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Justice Department Attorneys Announce $30.5 Million Settlement in Qui Tam Whistleblower Case of Medicaid Fraud

July 27, 2007
Michael Sullivan

Another False Claims Act Recovery by Government Lawyers Is Part of $42.65 Million Heath Care Fraud Settlement

A qui tam whistleblower case alleging Medicaid fraud by Maximus, Inc. of Reston, Virginia led to a $30.5 million settlement under the False Claims Act this week.

According to the Justice Department, the whistleblower case settlement accompanied a deferred prosecution agreement and corporate integrity agreement by Maximus to end the government’s investigation of Maximus’ contract with the District of Columbia’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA).
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The Profile of the New Tax Whistleblower

July 25, 2007
Michael Sullivan

When the Tax Relief and Healthcare Act of 2006 was signed into law on December 20, 2006, Congress hoped to encourage businessmen and women to come forward with information concerning tax cheats. The new IRS Whistleblower Program (found at 26 U.S.C. § 7623) purposely focuses on large claims. To qualify for whistleblower rewards, a minimum of $2 million in taxes, penalties and interest must be involved. Given this amount of money, the primary targets of the new legislation are businesses whose employees and/or former employees
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Attorney Assisting Offshore Tax Evasion Is Rewarded With Prison Sentence and Judgment to PAy of $2.7 Million

August 24, 2008
Michael Sullivan

As this whistleblower lawyer blog has written about often, abuses of offshore transactions have increasingly become a target of IRS enforcement efforts. A Utah attorney learned this lesson last week when he was sentenced to ten years in prison, and was ordered to pay $2.7 million, for his role in an offshore tax evasion scheme that deprived the government of more than $20 million in taxes.

Attorney Dennis B. Evanson of Sandy, Utah, was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud,
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New Jersey Medicare Contractor Settles Health Care Fraud Case under False Claims Act

August 16, 2008
Michael Sullivan

The Medicare program depends on the integrity of “trusted contractors” to process and pay Medicare claims. This past week, one of those “trusted contractors” operating in New Jersey, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, agreed to pay the federal government $2.1 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act.

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee operated as the primary Medicare Part A Fiscal Intermediary for New Jersey, under the name “Riverbend Government Benefit Administrators.”

The government had alleged that BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee “failed to
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OIG Approves False Claims Acts of California, Georgia, Indiana, and Rhode Island, But Disapproves False Claims Acts of Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Oklahoma

August 6, 2008
Michael Sullivan

The wave of new State False Claims Acts has generated a flurry of letters from the Office of Inspector General of HHS this past week. OIG has now “approved” the new State False Claims Acts of California, Georgia, Indiana, and Rhode Island, but has “disapproved” those of six other states: Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

As this whistleblower lawyer blog has written about extensively, Congress has created financial incentives for states to enact their own versions of the highly
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New Whistleblower Law Promotes Consumer Product Safety

August 5, 2008
Michael Sullivan

On July 31, Congress enacted a new Whistleblower Law designed to promote consumer product safety. The new federal legislation specifically was enacted to protect public and private sector employees who disclose to their employers, a regulatory agency or a state Attorney General any perceived violation of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The law also provides protection for employees who refuse to participate in violations of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Act. Obviously, the purpose of this legislation was to protect employees who, in good faith,
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IRS Announces Process for Review of Whistleblower Claims by IRS Large and Midsize Business Division (LMSB)

August 1, 2008
Michael Sullivan

As another step toward the further development of the new IRS Whistleblower Program, our friends at the IRS Large and Midsize Business Division (LMSB) in Lower Manhattan have announced a three-step process for IRS Whistleblower claims that are eligible for the new “rewards” authorized by Congress in December 2006.

IRS Commisioner Frank Ng describes it as a “process for analyzing informant information and disseminating it to the field” for claims with at least $2 million in question, which is the threshold amount for whistleblowers
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Judges Address New State False Claims Act in Georgia

July 30, 2008
Michael Sullivan

At the annual “Continuing Judicial Education” conference in St. Simon’s Island, Georgia this week, I was honored to be invited to speak to the assembled judges about the new state False Claims Act in Georgia, the State False Medicaid Claims Act.

As this whistleblower lawyer blog has written about extensively, there is a wave of new state False Claims Acts across the country, as Congress has urged states to replicate the dramatic successes of the federal False Claims Act in stopping those
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Offshore Tax Evasion and Cayman Islands Hearing Prompts Grassley’s Call to Follow IRS Whistleblower Program with Additional IRS Tools

July 29, 2008
Michael Sullivan

At the Senate Finance Committee’s hearing on the Cayman Islands and offshore tax evasion last week, Senator Charles Grassley reiterated the importance of the new IRS Whistleblower program to combat tax evasion, but also stressed the need for Congress to provide the IRS greater tools to address offshore tax evasion.

The July 24 hearing focused on GAO’s investigation into the Ugland House, a law firm’s office building in the Cayman Islands that is the registered address of thousands of corporations. The hearing also examined
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IRS Predicts Whistleblowers Will Be Important to Efforts to Combat Offshore Tax Evasion After UBS

July 28, 2008
Michael Sullivan

This past week the IRS Commissioner of the Large and Midsized Business Division summarized the IRS’s efforts to combat offshore tax evasion. He predicted that whistleblowers will become increasingly important to the IRS’ efforts, given the existence of the new IRS Whistleblower rewards.

IRS Commissioner Frank Ng described to Congress the “critical importance to tax administration in this country — the practice of sheltering U.S. earned income in foreign jurisdictions as a means of avoiding U.S. taxation.”

He identified as “Tier I” issues the following transactions::

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Nursing Home Operators Plead Guilty to Medicaid Fraud and Abuse of Patients

July 27, 2008
Michael Sullivan

Having lunch this week with a public servant who investigates heath care fraud, I was struck once again by his descriptions of abuses that nursing home residents too often suffer, many of which our whistleblower attorneys had also encountered in past cases.

It is damnable enough to steal federal and state taxpayer funds that are supposed to pay for care of our elderly through Medicare and Medicaid. It is another level of depravity to ignore our elder citizens’ medical needs–and even to steal from
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Hospital System Settles Medicare Fraud False Claims Act Allegations for $60 Million

July 26, 2008
Michael Sullivan

The government’s announcement this week of a $60 million Medicare fraud settlement with a Missouri hospital system is yet another example of the need for ongoing deterrence of health care fraud.

According to the government, Lester E. Cox Medical Systems violated the False Claims Act, the nation’s primary tool for combating fraud against taxpayer funds. Dating back to 1995 and continuing to recent years, Cox allegedly committed various unlawful acts, including submitting fraudulent cost reports to obtain Medicare funds, entering into illegal arrangements
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