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Published on: November 10th, 2021
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced in a press release that it is awarding $24 million to a whistleblower who brought information under the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act regarding design flaws found in Hyundai and Kia vehicles. The award is the first of its kind under the NHTSA whistleblower program, which was … Continue reading >>>
Published on: September 26th, 2021
With the federal government committing at least 23 percent of contracts to small business, how much is lost to fraud? An audit by the Department of Veterans Affairs found the VA awarded $500 million annually to ineligible veteran-owned and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses in a single year. Similarly, an audit by the Department of Defense … Continue reading >>>
Published on: September 23rd, 2021
At Wilbanks & Gouinlock, we actively pursue defense contractor fraud cases and expect many more in the coming years. The Department of Defense allocated $420 billion in defense contracts in 2020, which is more than the amount allocated to all other federal agencies combined. The $420 billion in private defense contracts remains a “high risk … Continue reading >>>
Published on: September 22nd, 2021
States can use the their False Claims Act statutes to combat all types of fraud. In fact, many states allocate 68 percent of their total budgets to non-healthcare programs. Despite this fact, only a handful of states have a robust False Claims Act to combat fraud. It’s not just healthcare—find out how states are combatting … Continue reading >>>
Published on: September 21st, 2021
Private insurers may be doling out around $240 billion to fraudsters each year. In California and Illinois, whistleblowers can recover a share from private insurance fraud. Find out why 88 percent of the private insurance market is more vulnerable to fraud in today’s Fraud in America, presented by Taxpayers Against Fraud. This article is intended … Continue reading >>>
Published on: September 16th, 2021
The False Claims Act in 5 states (and the District of Columbia) recognize whistleblowers can help combat tax cheats. New York has recovered more than $555 million in the last five years alone. According to the IRS, nearly $1 trillion in federal taxes go unpaid each year, which would pay for the entire amount the … Continue reading >>>
Published on: September 15th, 2021
With billions of taxpayer dollars at risk, whistleblowers are being called upon to recover funds lost to COVID-19 fraud. How much has been lost to PPP fraud? According to a recent study, as much as $76 billion, or 15% of the loans disbursed to small businesses as part of the “CARES” Act. For more information, … Continue reading >>>
Published on: September 5th, 2021
The government’s best tool to fight fraud is the False Claims Act. For every $1 the government spends, it recovers more than $20. In 2012, the government spent $575 million prosecuting health care fraud. It recovered $9.38 billion. For more information about the government’s best tool to fight fraud, please visit Fraud in America, presented … Continue reading >>>
Published on: January 10th, 2020
According to the Department of Justice, recoveries under the False Claims Act in 2019 amounted to a whopping $3 Billion. The majority of those False Claims Act recoveries, according to DOJ, were in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. W&G’s $31M recovery against Sutter Health in California in 2019 added fully $31 Million to the healthcare … Continue reading >>>
Published on: April 12th, 2018
In the Southeastern United States (the 11th Circuit federal court jurisdiction), some whistleblowers can now go back as far as 10 years to collect damages, not just 6 years as is the case in some other parts of the country. According to the language of the False Claims Act, qui tam cases can be filed … Continue reading >>>
Published on: February 13th, 2018
The federal budget bill signed into law on February 9, 2018 extends the tax deduction for attorney’s fees paid out of federal False Claims Act whistleblower awards to many other federal and state whistleblower programs and expands the scope of what can be investigated under the IRS whistleblower program. Double Taxation Eliminated at the State … Continue reading >>>
Published on: December 16th, 2016
Once again, the U.S. Department of Justice identifies a Wilbanks & Gouinlock case as one of the top five most significant healthcare fraud cases of 2016. Click here to view the U.S. Department of Justice press release.
Published on: December 6th, 2016
Today the United States Supreme Court unanimously decided that contrary to arguments made by government contractors and the United States Chamber of Commerce, a breach of the seal in a qui tam case does not require dismissal of the case. The court in State Farm Fire and Casualty Company v. U.S. ex rel. Rigsby ruled … Continue reading >>>
Published on: September 21st, 2016
In a recent “Statement of Interest,” filed in a qui tam/False Claims Act case pending in Massachusetts, the U.S. Department of Justice has weighed in on what the Supreme Court’s decision in Escobar means in a way that is very favorable to whistleblowers.
Published on: July 21st, 2016
The Department of Justice has said it intends to increase the minimum per-claim penalty from $5,500 to $10,781 and to increase the maximum per-claim penalty from $11,000 to $21,563 if a defendant is found liable under the False Claims Act
Published on: July 20th, 2016
The United States Supreme Court has upheld the “implied certification” theory of liability in a False Claims Act case, meaning that a defendant can be liable under the False Claims Act for billing the government for goods or services when the defendant is not in compliance with material statutory, regulatory, or contractual requirements related to those good or services.