Blog

A Miami Federal Judge has refused to dismiss false claims lawsuits brought by former Kaplan employees, who allege that Kaplan University and Kaplan Higher Education Corp. violated the Higher Education Act to receive federal funding and profits. While the Judge rejected some of the whistleblowers’ accusations against Kaplan (i.e. manipulating student academic records and job-placement statistics), she allowed the whistleblower to pursue other claims, such as the retaliation claims.

Read more at: http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/09/22/39981.htm

Bank of America Corp must reinstate a Countrywide whistleblower, who was fired promptly after the merging of the two companies in 2008, and pay $930,000 in damages to the employee. The former employee, during his employment, conducted internal investigations, which led to the discovery of widespread fraud involving Countrywide employees. Upon his report to Countrywide’s Employee Relations Department, he was subsequently fired.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/14/bank-of-america-whistleblower_n_962702.html

Johnson & Johnson’s Scios unit will pay $85 million in penalties for misbranding the heart drug Natrecor. Under the False Claims Act, the U.S. alleged that Johnson & Johnson illegally marketed Natrecor for off-label “serial outpatient infusions” not yet approved by the FDA. According to the U.S., this practice has led to “substantial amounts” of false claims being submitted to the Medicare program.
Read more at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/09/14/bloomberg1376-LO1H7S1A74E901-6UOBJB6Q63F6MNPNPP8VHND6UL.DTL&type=printable

The DOJ has announced that Maxim Healthcare Services Inc., a company that provides in-home health and nursing services, will pay civil and criminal fines of $150 million. The company admitted to defrauding Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs for $61 million. Maxim agreed to pay approximately $70 million to the federal government, approximately $60 million to 42 states, and $20 million in criminal penalties.

Read more at: http://www.nationaljournal.com/healthcare/maxim-to-pay-150-million-fine-for-health-care-fraud-20110912?print=true

Accenture will pay $63.7 million to settle whistleblower allegations that the company engaged in a large-scale kickbacks scheme involving government contracts. The lawsuit, which was brought in 2004 by two whistleblowers, accused Accenture of receiving kickbacks from IT vendors, inflating prices, and rigging bids on federal IT contracts.  The DOJ joined the lawsuit in 2007. Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Civil Division stated, “[a]t a time when we’re looking for ways to reduce our public spending, it is especially important to ensure that government contractors play by the rules and don’t waste precious taxpayer dollars.”

Read more at: http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,239866/printable.html