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Red River Computer Co. Inc. of Claremont, New Hampshire has agreed to pay $2.3 million for its alleged violations of the False Claims Act. Red River failed to follow through on its promises to federal agencies,  including the Departments of Defense, Commerce and Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, Library of Congress, and General Services Administration. An investigation of Red River’s contracts led to the discovery of many issues including False Claims Act violations relating to computer hardware, software, and other service contracts.

Read more at: http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110819/NEWS02/708199969

Ex-Walgreens pharmacist Sami Mitri received $1.24 million from a Fresno federal court jury this past Friday, subsequent to his allegations that Walgreens’ Medicare billing fraud led to his firing in January 2010. Although blowing the whistle may have led to his firing after more than thirteen years of working at the company, Mitri’s actions were ultimately rewarded following a nine-day trial before U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii. Mitri’s attorney Andrew Jones said, “The jury sent a message that Walgreens can’t fire a whistle-blower… This guy is a hero who came forward and stood up for taxpayers like you and me. He stood up for what is right.”

Read more at: http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/08/19/2505503/fired-walgreens-pharmacist-awarded.html

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is working to target fraud in the Medicare program. Last month, Attorney General Eric Holder and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius attended the sixth regional health care fraud prevention summit. Held in Philadelphia, the summit brought parties together to learn innovative ways to eliminate fraud in the health care system. In the beginning of August, Sebelius also attended the Senior Medicare Patrol National Conference. During the Conference, Sebelius stated, “[W}e know that one of the most effective and direct steps we can take to improve Medicare’s long-term health is ridding the program of waste, fraud, and abuse.”

To read more, go to: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/justice-department-states-fight-medicare-fraud-60545.html

This past July, SEC attorney Darcy Flynn decided to blow the whistle against the SEC, bringing its widespread destruction of records to the attention of Congress. Flynn reported that for the past two decades, the SEC has been destroying thousands of records involving preliminary investigations. But under a deal the SEC has with the National Archives and Records Administration, all agency records are required to be maintained for at least 25 years. It also turns out that many of the destroyed files were of companies who eventually came to play a significant role in the economic crash of 2008, including Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, and Deutsche Bank.

To read more, go to: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/is-the-sec-covering-up-wall-street-crimes-20110817

On August 12, 2011, the SEC opened a whistleblower website as its new bounty program under the Dodd-Frank began. The Dodd-Frank Act’s incentive program rewards whistleblowers with up to 30 percent of the penalties collected from wrongdoers. Congress enacted the legislation that created the program last year and it has been operating on an interim basis since that time. Chief of SEC’s whistleblower office, Sean McKessy, reported that “tip quality” has already shown improvement from last year.

To read more, go to: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-12/sec-opens-whistle-blower-website-as-dodd-frank-program-begins.html