San Diego Eye Doctors Pay $950,000 to Settle Medicare Billing Fraud Allegations
SAN DIEGO – Mark D. Smith and Fane Robinson, two San Diego-area
physicians, have paid the United States $948,768.18 to resolve
allegations that they violated the federal False Claims Act by knowingly
submitting false claims to Medicare.
Dr. Smith and Dr. Robinson are medical doctors specializing in
ophthalmology. They maintain a medical practice in San Diego known as
San Diego Retina Assoc...
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Author: WhistleBlowerStaff
Six Charged by SEC International Fraud Schemes
SEC Charges Six Individuals in International Microcap Fraud Schemes
The Securities and Exchange
Commission today charged six individuals and their companies with
participating in schemes that allegedly generated more than $35 million
of illegal sales of stock in at least 45 microcap companies. The charges
contained in two complaints reflect investigations by staff in the
SEC’s New York and Boston offices, and assistance from multiple
regulators outside the U.S.
According to one SEC...
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Whistleblowers Win $8.6 million in LAPD Cops Retaliation Suit
For months, the two Los Angeles Police Department bloodhound handlers saw their supervisor harass their female colleague.
Over
and over, they saw him try to massage her shoulders, unsolicited, and
heard him make suggestive comments about her body. The supervisor often
showed up to her calls, something he didn’t do as much with her male
counterparts.
When
they complained on the woman’s behalf, Officers Elliot Zibli and David
Dooros suffered backlash so severe that they...
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Whistleblowers Awarded Over $54 Million by SEC
SEC Awards More Than $320 Million
The Securities and Exchange Commission is awarding $39 million to one whistleblower and $15 million to another whose critical information and continued assistance helped the agency bring an important enforcement action. The $39 million award is the second-largest award in the history of the SEC’s whistleblower program.
“Whistleblowers serve as invaluable sources of information, and can propel an investigation forward by helping us overcome obstacles and...
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JP Morgan Chase Whistleblower Gets Record $30Million
A J.P. Morgan Chase whistleblower will receive about $30 million for providing crucial information to a successful Commodity Futures Trading Commission investigation into the biggest U.S. bank.
The award was the largest in the history of the program, the Commodity Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) said Thursday in a statement. It disclosed little else about the case, saying that it is prohibited from revealing information that could identify whistle-blowers.
The payment was linke...
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Whistleblower Laws Violated by Gag Orders at Federal Agencies
Agencies can't bar speech without reminding workers of their rights
In December, The Washington Post revealed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had recommended employees not use certain words, including “diversity” and “entitlement,” when preparing budget documents for Congress. According to a federal watchdog, which verified parts of The Post’s reporting, this was one of several questionable decisions the CDC and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Ser...
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Whistleblower Exposes $32M in Unaccounted Gear at Naval Base
Federal investigators announced Monday they had sent a letter to President Trump and Congress notifying them of "mismanagement" at a unit of Naval Base Ventura County, Port Hueneme.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel's letter and an accompanying 2017 report by Navy investigators were prompted by complaints from a whistleblower who previously worked at the local base.
The Navy ultimately determined that more than $32 million worth of equipment could not be accounted for because warehouse em...
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Largest-Ever SEC Whistleblower Award
Washington D.C.,- The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced its highest-ever Dodd-Frank whistleblower awards, with two whistleblowers sharing a nearly $50 million award and a third whistleblower receiving more than $33 million. The previous high was a $30 million award in 2014.
“These awards demonstrate that whistleblowers can provide the SEC with incredibly significant information that enables us to pursue and remedy serious violations that might otherwise go unnoticed,” said J...
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New Jersey Appeals Court Gives State Larger Chunk of Whistleblower Awards
A whistleblower who was awarded $1.2 million in a False Claims Act suit must pay state taxes on the entire amount of the award, even if the amount paid in legal fees and portions of the proceeds were shared with other relators, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Thursday.
Anthony Kite, who filed a whistleblower suit accusing several hospitals of overbilling Medicare by as much as 400 percent, was able to deduct his legal fees for the case from his federal income taxes. But he must pay state tax...
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Business Insider / Foreign National Awarded $4.1 Million
The Securities and Exchange Commission awarded more than $4.1 million to a former company insider who alerted the agency to a widespread, multi-year securities law violation and continued to provide important information and assistance throughout the SEC’s investigation.
“Company insiders often have valuable information that can help the SEC halt an ongoing securities law violation and better protect investors,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. “The breadth o...
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