The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it had filed 760 total enforcement actions in fiscal year 2022, a 9 percent increase over the prior year. The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower – the division within the SEC responsible for administering the SEC Whistleblower Program – reported that it issued approximately $229 million in…
CFTC Releases Annual Enforcement Results, Including Landmark Whistleblower Recovery
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission released its annual enforcement results, reporting that its enforcement division recovered over $2.5 billion in restitution, disgorgement, and civil monetary penalties during the past fiscal year. In addition, the agency filed 82 enforcement actions. The CFTC stated that the results “demonstrate[] its continued commitment to protecting consumers and ensuring…
Fourth Circuit Deadlocks on “Objectively Reasonable” False Claims Act Standard
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit was evenly divided on whether a party can be held liable for defrauding the government if it can point to an “objectively reasonable” interpretation of the law to support its conduct. The Court’s split leaves this issue unresolved in the Fourth Circuit, but other Circuits…
New York Attorney General Urges Crypto Whistleblowers to Report Fraud
In response to “[t]he recent turbulence and significant losses in the cryptocurrency market,” New York Attorney General Letitia James has “issued an investor alert urging any New Yorker deceived or affected by the cryptocurrency crash to contact her office.” The alert also encouraged workers in the cryptocurrency industry who have witnessed misconduct or fraud to…
Getnick & Getnick Co-Authors Amicus Brief in Conjunction with Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund
On July 5, 2022, Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, a public interest non-profit organization dedicated to fighting fraud against the government, filed an Amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in the case U.S. ex rel. Lovell & Mckusick, et al., v. AthenaHealth, Inc. et al. The brief, which was…
Getnick & Getnick’s Neil Getnick and Courtney Finerty-Stelzner Publish Op-ed in Law360 on Proposed Changes to New York’s Tax Whistleblower Law
Getnick & Getnick’s Neil Getnick and Courtney Finerty-Stelzner published a Law360 op-ed regarding proposed changes to New York’s tax whistleblower law. The Op-ed explains that “[t]he bill to amend New York’s False Claims Act . . . to apply to wealthy individuals and businesses that knowingly fail to file tax returns is a small but…
Getnick & Getnick’s Neil Getnick and Nico Gurian Publish Law360 Op-Ed on Potential International Whistleblower Program
Getnick & Getnick’s Neil Getnick and Nico Gurian published a Law360 op-ed regarding the potential development of an international whistleblower program for the J5 — a global tax enforcement collaborative launched in 2018 between the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands. The Op-ed argues that “as J5 considers establishing an international whistleblower program to…
Getnick & Getnick’s Nico Gurian Publishes Op-Ed in Support of Expanding Connecticut’s False Claims Act
G&G associate Nico Gurian has written an op-ed in the Connecticut Mirror arguing in favor of the current proposal to expand Connecticut’s False Claims Act (“FCA”). In his op-ed, Mr. Gurian rebuts the argument that the expansion of the state’s FCA will be difficult to apply to industries outside of health care and explains that,…
New Proposal in House to Modify Anti-Money Laundering Act’s Whistleblower Program
Representative Alma Adams (D-NC) has proposed a new bill that would reform the whistleblower provisions of the recently passed Anti-Money Laundering Act (“AMLA”). Passed in January 2021, the AMLA amended the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) in several ways, including an overhaul of the BSA’s whistleblower provision. As amended by the AMLA, the BSA whistleblower provision…
DOJ Alleges $40 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois alleging that the owner of General Medicine, P.C. and his related corporate entities – that are based in Michigan and employ physicians and nurses to treat patients in nursing homes and assisted living facilities in…