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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has established new whistleblower sections required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The rule changes will take effect on Oct. 24, adding new sections to the Commodity Exchange Act, including a provision which provides a bounty to whistleblowers who recover money for the Government.

Read more at: http://www.ect.coop/industry/business-finance/cftc-finalizes-whistleblower-rule/33742

This past GOP debate highlighted the overwhelming problem of Medicare fraud. The candidates all agreed to maintain the Medicare prescription drug benefit enacted during George W. Bush’s tenure, but added the caveat that government waste and fraud must end. The discussion started when a woman in the audience wanted to know more about the candidates’ plans to balance the budget.

Read more at: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-debate-medicare-20110912,0,5723574.story?track=rss

The DOJ reports that the Arizona-based contractor, TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp., will  pay $10 million to resolve allegations of  filing false claims to the U.S. military’s Tricare medical benefit plan from 2004 to 2010.  The suit was brought by four former TriWest employees under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act. The relators will be rewarded $1.7 million in their share of the government’s recovery.

Read more at: http://www.marketwatch.com/Story/story/print?guid=7DB7F408-8A98-4ACE-BF7D-5D6F4845235F

According to a DOJ news release, the U.S. has partially intervened in a false claims lawsuit against Florida-based Halifax Hospital Medical Center. The allegations state that Halifax violated the Stark Law, which “prohibits a hospital from billing Medicare for services referred by physicians that have an improper financial relationship with the hospital.”

Read more at: http://www.beckersasc.com/stark-act-and-fraud-abuse-issues/us-intervenes-in-suit-against-floridas-halifax-hospital-alleges-stark-law-violations.html

The SEC has banned its employees from destroying anymore investigative documents, as damage control takes place after an SEC attorney blew the whistle on the agency’s mass destruction or records. Senator Grassley states, “[t]his agency has been in knots over its documents policy… [t]he agency and the National Archives need to determine what records have to be kept, both for what’s logical for investigations and what’s necessary under federal law.”

Read more at: http://www.executivegov.com/2011/09/sec-bans-document-destruction-after-whistleblower-cries-foul/