This year’s Symposium will be available either in-person or online on Wednesday, March 13, starting at 815 am EDT.  It offers 7.5 CLE hours, including 1 Ethics hour and 4 Trial Practice hours. Cost is $279.  

You can register (and see the full Agenda) here: atlantabar.org/….   Topics include: 

The post Register for 2024 “Whistleblower Law Symposium”–Live Event (Virtually) on March 13 appeared first on Whistleblower Lawyer Blog.

Turning to IRS violations, this WSJ article addresses in part why, “[o]n its 2007 return, Ensign Peak put down ‘1,000,000’ for its total assets. The real number was about $38 billion, an Ensign Peak document shows.”

To quote the Journal:

The post Wall Street Journal Begins Examining IRS Violations Exposed by Mormon Whistleblower Regarding Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc. appeared first on Whistleblower Lawyer Blog.

Mormon blows whistle on church’s alleged “clandestine hedge fund”

(https://www.cbsnews.com/60-minutes/ ):

The post On 60 Minutes, LDS Church admits “bailout” of for-profit business by Ensign Peak – which shows Ensign Peak cannot be tax-exempt. appeared first on Whistleblower Lawyer Blog.

On Sunday, May 14, 60 Minutes featured an interview with our IRS and SEC whistleblower client David Nielsen.

My colleague Richard Rubin and I are proud to represent this principled whistleblower.

#cbs #60minutes #whistleblower #finchmccranie #secwhistleblower #irswhistleblower #ensignpeak

The post 60 Minutes Interviews Our IRS & SEC Whistleblower Client David Nielsen: “Mormon Blows Whistle on Church’s Alleged ‘Clandestine Hedge Fund'” appeared first on Whistleblower Lawyer Blog.

• The SEC Whistleblower Reform Act of 2023, co-sponsored by Sens. Grassley, Warren, Collins, Warnock, and Mastro, removes some predictable roadblocks to an effective SEC Whistleblower program.  To summarize from Sen. Grassley’s release, the Act would:
  1. Protect whistleblowers from retaliation if they report violations only in the workplace.  Currently, whistleblowers are protected only once they report misconduct directly to the SEC or certain other officials.

The post Amid Bank Bailouts, SEC Whistleblower Improvements Urged by Senators Grassley & Warren appeared first on Whistleblower Lawyer Blog.

Whistleblowers are critical to the SEC’s efforts to stop COVID-19 fraud.  The SEC Office of the Whistleblower is authorized to pay monetary awards to whistleblowers whose information leads to an order of sanctions of $1 million or more.

Our firm’s lawyers are uniquely suited to bring attention to meritorious SEC whistleblower claims.  Our firm has the only former Senior Officer and Regional Director of the SEC who represents SEC whistleblowers, Walter Jospin.  We have the ability and experience to evaluate a potential Whistleblower claim and determine if it will interest the SEC Division of Enforcement.  If it does not, the case is lost.  Few lawyers have that experience.

The post SEC Targets COVID-19 Fraud, and Its Success Will Depend on SEC Whistleblowers appeared first on Whistleblower Lawyer Blog.

The Department of Justice announced the settlement on August 17, 2017, of two qui tam cases pending in the District of Massachusetts, United States, et al. ex rel. sanofi-aventis US LLC v. Mylan Inc., et al., and our case, United States, et al. ex rel. Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys, Inc. Mylan Inc., et al..

These cases illustrate the importance of the False Claims Act to uncover and stop fraud and false claims in health care and other industries, which harm taxpayers by stealing taxpayer dollars needed to provide medical care and other services.

The post $465 Million Settlement in Our Client’s Qui Tam Whistleblower Case Over Pharmaceutical Manufacturer’s Underpaying Medicaid Rebates for New EpiPen Products appeared first on Whistleblower Lawyer Blog.

Today the Department of Justice announced the largest settlement in its history with a skilled nursing facility chain–a qui tam whistleblower case under the False Claims Act that our firm and our co-counsel Mark Simpson worked side-by-side with DOJ to prepare for trial.

We applaud the exceptional work of DOJ’s attorneys, as well the outstanding attorneys of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.  Below is our press release on today’s settlement:

$145 Million Settlement in Groundbreaking Health Care Fraud “Whistleblower” Case by Atlanta’s Finch McCranie LLP and U.S. Department of Justice

The post $145 Million Settlement: Largest in History by Department of Justice and Finch McCranie, LLP in Any Skilled Nursing Facility Healthcare Fraud Case appeared first on Whistleblower Lawyer Blog.

Joining us on the panel were the Department of Justice’s Renee Brooker, an Assistant Director in the Civil Division with 25 years of DOJ experience; James J. (Jim) Breen, an accomplished qui tam lawyer whose cases have recovered almost $4 billion for federal and state taxpayers; and Neil Getnick, Chairman of TAF and an accomplished FCA lawyer in his own right.

Larry provided his observations about the importance of meaningful compliance programs to prevent and detect fraud within organizations.  He continues to share his perspective gained from years of government service, private practice, and as general counsel to a major corporation, with in-house counsel who contact him for advice.

The post “The False Claims Act at 30”–What the Future Holds for Qui Tam Whistleblower Cases appeared first on Whistleblower Lawyer Blog.

The Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the trial court’s 2013 ruling (background discussed here) to allow Schneiderman’s first tax enforcement case under the New York False Claims Act to proceed.

The Complaint alleges that Sprint unlawfully failed to collect and pay $130 million in New York sales taxes on a portion of its revenue from fixed monthly access charges. Like the federal False Claims Act, the New York False Claims Act provides for recovery of three times the amount of damages incurred–“treble damages.”

A major aspect of Schneiderman’s victory was that it makes Sprint potentially liable under the New York False Claims Act for tax fraud that preceded the Act’s 2010 amendments to include tax violations. In fact, the court affirmed the trial court’s decision allowing the case to proceed in all respects:

The court properly denied the motion to dismiss the complaint in its entirety. Plaintiffs’ complaint adequately alleges that defendants violated New York’s False Claims Act (State Finance Law § 189[1][g]), Executive Law § 63(12) and Article 28 of the Tax Law by knowingly making false statements material to an obligation to pay sales tax pursuant to Tax Law § 1105(b)(2). Contrary to defendants’ interpretation, the Tax Law provision is not preempted by the Federal Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act (4 USC 116 et seq.).

The court also properly rejected defendants’ argument that the New York False Claims Act with respect to statements made under the Tax Law should not be given its stated retroactive [*2]effect. Defendants fail to show that the Act’s sanction of civil penalties, including treble damages, is so punitive in nature and effect as to have its retroactive effect barred by the Ex Post Facto Clause (US Const, art I, § 10).

We once again applaud the efforts of Attorney General Schneiderman and his office to protect the public’s purse though the New York False Claims Act. The case shows the value that tax whistleblowers can bring to stop those who refuse to pay their fair share of the tax burden.

The Attorney General’s announcement is linked here.

Finch McCranie, LLP represents whistleblowers worldwide in cases under the federal and state False Claims Acts, the IRS Whistleblower Program, and the SEC and CFTC Whistleblower Programs. For a free consultation about a potential case, click here.

The post New York False Claims Act Case Against Sprint Nextel Takes Giant Step Forward appeared first on Whistleblower Lawyer Blog.