New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is set to lead an inquiry into whether the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. committed fraud by improperly charging state and local pension funds for currency transactions over the past decade. A whistleblower group alleges that BNY Mellon and State Street Corp. of Boston shortchanged public pension funds…
Prosecutors Seek Further Charges in Agility Food Fraud
Federal prosecutors are circling new charges against The Public Warehousing Co. (a/k/a Agility), a Kuwaiti military food supplier accused of defrauding the U.S. of at least $68 million. According to the 2009 charges, the Kuwaiti company allegedly provided false statements and invoices and knowingly inflated prices since 2003. The company is also accused of failing…
SEC Tips Database Provides New Weapon Against Fraud
The SEC announced that it has revamped its investigative procedures, starting with a $21 million “Tips, Complaints and Referrals” database and a new, FBI-partnered Office of Market Intelligence. Previously sent via phone, e-mail, fax or letter, tips can now be entered into the TCR Database, which is accessible to 2,300 SEC employees. Additionally, the new…
Blackwater Fraud Trial Begins in VA.
Beginning this week, Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater, will defend themselves against accusations they overbilled the State Department on a $1 billion contract for services in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2008 former employees Brad and Melan Davis brought a whistleblower lawsuit alleging the company falsified records stating the number of Blackwater employees stationed in…
Madoff Whistleblower on new SEC Fraud Prevention
Harry Markopolos, previously a whistleblower in the Bernie Madoff case, conducted an interview with Reuters regarding the SEC’s new “Tips, Complaints and Referrals” database, its unique partnership with the FBI and the implications of the current budget crisis. Markopolos believes that Bernie Madoff served as a catalyst for rapid reform. In response, the SEC created…
LabCorp Settles Medi-Cal Fraud for $49.5M
LabCorp has announced a $49.5 million settlement to resolve a Medicaid fraud lawsuit. One of seven lab testing companies named in the 2005 suit, LabCorp was accused of overcharging California’s Medicaid program and giving doctors kickbacks in return for referrals. The second of seven named companies, LabCorp follows a competitor, Quest Diagnostics, the latter having…
DaVita Accused of Profiting from Intentional Waste
DaVita, among the nation’s leading providers of kidney dialysis, is accused of intentionally wasting medicine in order to defraud Medicare of hundreds of millions of dollars. The whistleblower case was brought by a former nurse and doctor. The allegations, denied by DaVita, state the company used greater than necessary doses of medication, disposing of leftovers…
Verizon, Northrop Grumman, and National Government Sources aid CMS in Fight Against Fraud
Verizon, Northrop Grumman and National Government Services have developed fraud detection and prevention technology for the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services. Despite their own past troubles with alleged fraud – Verizon paid $93 million earlier this year and Northrop Grumman $250 million – the new technology promises significant improvement over current practices. By automatically…
World’s Largest Provider of Kidney Dialysis Ordered to Pay Treble Damages
Fresenius Medical Care AG, the world’s biggest provider of kidney dialysis, was ordered by U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes to pay treble damages of $38.9 million to settle charges brought by two whistleblowers that the company had overbilled Medicare. The lawsuit claimed two Fresenius-owned companies, Renal Care Group and Renal Care Group Supply Co.,…
Danish Drugmaker Settles Claims of Improper Drug Marketing
Danish Drugmaker Novo Nordisk has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit over improperly marketing its anti-clotting medicine, NovoSeven. Allegedly, Novo Nordisk marketed NovoSeven for off-label uses not approved by the FDA. In addition, it will pay $1.725 million to resolve claims its sales representatives paid Rite Aid pharmacists to recommend Novolin and…