Have a claim? Click Here for a Confidential Consultation »

U.S. SEC paid $3.75 million to BHP Billiton whistleblower: report

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission paid a BHP Billiton insider $3.75 million for detailed information in an investigation into alleged bribery of Asian and African officials, the Australian Financial Review reported on Monday.

Citing legal sources, the newspaper report said it was the first time an employee of an Australian company had received a U.S. whistleblower bounty.

BHP last year settled the SEC case, paying $25 million to resolve charges it violated a U.S. anti-bribery law by failing to properly monitor a program in which it paid for dozens of foreign government officials to attend the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. read more »

US-style whistleblower rewards to be considered amid review of protection laws

The Federal Government says it will consider introducing US-style laws that offer financial rewards for corporate whistleblowers.

Fairfax has reported that the US Government paid a multi-million dollar reward to a former BHP Billiton employee who helped an investigation into the mining company, becoming the first Australian employee to receive a US whistleblower bounty.

The revelations come as crossbench senators are aiming to ramp up the pressure on the Federal Government to change Australia's whistleblower protection laws read more »

Illinois attorney general sues Insys over fentanyl drug marketing

Illinois' attorney general on Thursday sued Insys Therapeutics Inc, accusing it of deceptively marketing and selling an addictive fentanyl-based medication, intended to treat cancer pain, to doctors for off-label uses.

The lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Lisa Madigan in Cook County Circuit Court, comes as Insys faces a number of state and investigations involving its drug Subsys as U.S. authorities seek to combat a national opioid abuse epidemic.

"This drug company's desire for increased profits led it to disregard patients' health and push addictive opioids for non-FDA approved purposes," Madigan said in a statement. read more »

California: Government waste, misuse revealed in audit spurred by whistleblower tips

A California state district engineer approved $3.9 million in payments to the firm that employed the worker's spouse and the state public health department improperly reimbursed an official $75,000 for driving to work, according to an audit released Thursday.

The findings are the result of whistleblower tips investigated within the first six months of the year. The report details seven substantiated investigations from several state agencies, and identifies $400,000 in undisclosed gifts and wasted money due to improper travel expenses and mismanagement. read more »

SEC: Purported Green Technology Company Defrauding Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a California-based company and two executives with using baseless financial projections and other misleading statements to defraud investors in a venture to manufacture environmentally-friendly building materials.

The SEC alleges that Enviro Board Corporation and its co-chairmen/CEOs Glenn Camp and William Peiffer raised approximately $6 million from investors during a four-year period by using documents predicting company earnings ranging from $18 million to $95 million per year.  They allegedly lacked any reasonable basis for such estimates amid persistent manufacturing problems plaguing the company since its inception.  Enviro Board claimed its green materials had already been used in residential and commercial construction projects, yet the company has never developed a commercially viable mill to manufacture its products.  Among other alleged misrepresentations to investors were claims to have secured $161 million in financing from a “vendor” that turned out to be nothing more than an entity created by Peiffer that lacked the resources to actually make such a loan. read more »

Court Misread FCA In Chopper Co. Bribery Suit, DOJ Says

The U.S. Department of Justice filed an amicus brief with the Eleventh Circuit Thursday in a whistleblower suit accusing MD Helicopters Inc. of bribery and selling overpriced choppers that, while neutral, argued these types of allegations can incur False Claims Act liability.

Without addressing the adequacy, or not, of the former MD employees’ allegations, the DOJ nevertheless argued that U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon “misapprehended important distinctions” between FCA liability theories when tossing the suit in late March. read more »

FCA Suit Over $4.5B Cleanup Moves Forward After Escobar

A Washington federal judge on Thursday lifted a stay in a False Claims Act suit filed by a trucking company that claims a prime contractor breached its $4.5 billion contract with the government for cleanup of a decommissioned nuclear site, letting the case proceed after the parties sought clarity from the U.S. Supreme Court's Escobar decision.

Hazardous waste transportation company Savage Logistics LLC and prime contractor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. asked for a stay in the case in April until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Universal Health Services Inc. v. Escobar, another FCA case that the sides said could significantly change the course of their case. read more »

Ex-Logitech Execs To Face Inflated Earnings Suit, SEC Says

 The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday pushed back against two former Logitech International SA executives’ efforts to duck the agency’s securities fraud suit accusing them of lying about the firm’s bottom line, calling its claims adequately pled.

Former Logitech Chief Financial Officer Erik K. Bardman and Jennifer F. Wolf, the former acting controller of the Swiss computer accessories manufacturer, are accused of deliberately minimizing a write-down of excess parts for a TV set-top device, called Revue, in order to inflate Logitech's revenues, after sales for Revue flopped. read more 

In Too Deep? The Federal Insider-Trading Case Co-Starring One Philip A. Mickelson Isn't Over Yet

Phil Mickelson has lived large and played large all his life. It's why millions of us love the guy. What has Phil done except make our lives more interesting by aligning ours with his? All those heartbreaking losses and Phil-the-Thrill wins. The beautiful wife. The crazy-big tips. The feuds with Tim Finchem. The many hours on the autograph line. The glassy-eyed quotes. From the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, after making a mess out of the 72nd hole: "I'm such an idiot."

If only we could sweep Phil's recent out-of-Billions debacle under the clubhouse rug. You know: his alleged debts to the gambler Billy Walters; the money Phil made (and eventually forfeited) in his too-good-to-be-true stock trading.

Can't be done. You know the phrase "Don't make a federal case out of it"? This is one. Prosecutors have been after Walters for decades (five indictments), and if he goes to trial on this case, the "professional golfer Philip A. Mickelson," as the SEC refers to Lefty in its complaint, will likely be a reluctant witness for the government. read more »