The Wall Street Journal reports today that Darcy Flynn, the SEC lawyer who accused the SEC of improperly destroying investigative documents earlier this year, filed a False Claims Act lawsuit against a previous employer in 1993.  The lawsuit resulted in a government settlement with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan alleging that the company had cheated Medicare by submitting false records in connection with audits of Medicare payments to hospitals.

Mr. Flynn joined the SEC in 1995, shortly after he obtained a reward from the $27.6 million settlement with Blue Cross Blue Shield.  Mr. Flynn’s lawyer, Gary J. Aguirre, stated that Mr. Flynn did not discuss his previous qui tam case in interviews for the SEC position and has “spent little time” discussing it since.

Mr. Flynn has accused the SEC of destroying documents it was required to retain, a practice which he alleges hurts the SEC’s ability to connect the dots between suspected frauds.  The SEC Inspector General is investigating the SEC’s document retention policies, which the National Archives and Records Administration called “unauthorized.” The Inspector General is expected to issue a report of his findings in September.

Read the entire article, SEC Lawyer Blew Whistle Before