The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that Associate Deputy Attorney General Kevin Chambers will serve as the Director for COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement. In this new role, Chambers will lead the department’s criminal and civil efforts to combat COVID-19 fraud. According to DOJ, those efforts to date “have resulted in criminal charges against over 1,000 defendants…
U.S. Attorney General Announces Launch of “KleptoCapture” Task Force
U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has announced the launch of Task Force “KleptoCapture”. The Task Force is “an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed, along with allies and partners, in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.” …
SEC Proposes Amendments to Whistleblower Program
On February 10, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced two proposed amendments to the rules governing its whistleblower program. The first proposed amendment pertains to related action awards for enforcement actions carried out by other agencies. Under the proposed language, the SEC would be permitted to pay whistleblowers related action awards even when…
DOJ False Claims Act Settlements and Judgments Exceed $5.6 Billion in FY 2021
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) obtained more than $5.6 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021. According to the DOJ, over $5 billion of that recovery relates to matters that involved the health care industry, including “drug…
NYSBA Commercial & Federal Litigation Section Urges Passage of Amendment to Strengthen the New York False Claims Act
The New York State Bar Association Commercial & Federal Litigation Section Executive Committee has approved, and NYSBA has sent the Governor’s Counsel, a comment strongly supporting New York Senate Bill 4730 / Assembly Bill 2543. In their capacities as Co-Chairs of the Section’s Civil Prosecution Committee, Getnick & Getnick attorneys Neil Getnick, Richard Dircks, and…
SEC Publishes FY 2021 Report to Congress on Whistleblower Program
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has published its Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2021 annual report to Congress on its Whistleblower Program. The report highlights, among other things, that in FY 2021 the SEC Whistleblower Program awarded approximately $564 million to 108 individuals – both the largest dollar amount and the largest number of individuals…
New York Expands Protections for Whistleblowers
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed into law revisions to Section 740 of the New York Labor Law that will substantially enhance protections for employees reporting illegal or dangerous business activities. Key changes include the expansion of the definition of “employee” to include former employees and current and former independent contractors and the expansion…
Deputy Attorney General Delivers Remarks on DOJ’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative
Deputy Attorney General (“DAG”) Lisa O. Monaco delivered remarks today at the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Criminal Division’s Cybersecurity Roundtable on “The Evolving Cyber Threat Landscape.” In her remarks, DAG Monaco highlighted DOJ’s newly launched Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative. According to DAG Monaco, the goal of this initiative is to use DOJ’s civil enforcement tools “to…
Getnick & Getnick Attorneys to Speak at Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund Annual Conference
Getnick & Getnick attorneys Neil Getnick, Margaret Finerty, and Lesley Ann Skillen will be speaking at the annual Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund (“TAFEF”) conference, held virtually from October 13–15, 2021, on topics addressing developments in whistleblower law, including the Federal False Claims Act and the IRS Whistleblower Program. TAFEF is a public interest non-profit…
Neil V. Getnick Quoted in The Wall Street Journal – Legal Protections for the Facebook Whistleblower
The Wall Street Journal recently published a piece describing the uncertain legal landscape faced by Frances Haugen, a former product manager at Facebook who has blown the whistle to expose a number of serious problems at the company, including the knowing dissemination of misinformation and the harmful effects of certain products on teenagers. On the…