The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about whether the False Claims Act provision that seals lawsuits from public disclosure violates the First Amendment. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s decision that extending the 60-day seal period does not violate the constitution.
In Cafasso v. General Dynamics, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that FCA complaints can not merely allege “unsavory conduct…[U]nsavory conduct is not, without more, actionable under the [False Claims Act].” The court goes on to say that FCA actions must “state with particularity the circumstances constitute fraud or mistake,” as well as, “plead plausible allegations.” The court’s decision forces FCA cases to clear a higher bar.
The whistleblower who revealed the tax fraud at Enron is in for a big pay day. The IRS Whistleblower Office will be giving him or her $1.1 million. Unfortunately for the whistleblower, this payout is under older rules that give less money. Today, if you blow the whistle and the IRS recovers over $2 million, you can get up to 30% of the recovered money. According to the whistleblower’s firm, Phillips & Cohen, this person wishes to remain anonymous, but we do know that he or she is a Wall Street banker.
Read more at MSN:http://money.msn.com/tax-tips/post.aspx?post=d776e6a3-2464-43a1-8a97-250b9a875b6a
By Andrew Jack, Financial Times
Published March 11, 2011
Or if you have a FT subscription: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae7099a0-49bc-11e0-acf0-00144feab49a.html#axzz1GnR32mEN
Here’s to the big drug maker
Selling their stuff to any taker
The white collar thugs
Who off-label their drugs
They pay off your physician
And call him a first-rate clinician
On any given day
They co-opt the FDA
Testing their drugs abroad
Makes it hard to detect the fraud
Promoting themselves on Tee Vee
Giving away samples for free
Advertising behind home plate
For drugs to get you a fun date
Purporting to cure life’s woes
Even for those with green toes
And if I have Aye dee dee
There must be a drug for me
For the child who’s a little hostile
Give him a drug to make him docile
Sometimes they invent new pills
Other times they concoct new ills
Operating in the name of science
As to ethics and morality in defiance
Conspiring to fix drug prices
That’s only one of their vices
Out for the public good?
They ain’t no robin hood!
Their legions visit providers
With donuts, coffee and even sliders
They use to give away much more
But than the feds went for the score
Their execs get paid lots of dough
Probably to conceal what they know
And even when their drugs fail
They still book revenue for the sale
Sometimes their drugs cause injury
It’s third party payors’ responsibility
And when the feds impose a fine?
It’s too small to keep them in line
Watching the economy tank
Stashing their bucks in the bank
Looking to Sell even more
Making health costs soar
So that’s how it is done
Big pharma sure makes a ton!