There has been a surge in the number of whistleblowers reporting suspected breaches of financial services law to the Central Bank

Ireland's banking regulator received more than 40 reports to its whistleblower hotline last year compared to just one report in the first year of its operation in 2014.

Whistleblowers made 44 "protected disclosures" during the reporting period, from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016.

The surge in reporting follows the introduction in 2013 of new legislation to give whistleblowers protection when making disclosures to the Central Bank. As well as protecting whistleblowers, the "protected disclosures" law places new obligations on certain categories of persons in firms to disclose breaches of financial services legislation to the Central Bank. read more »

J&J unit Acclarent to pay $18 million to settle false claims case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson Inc subsidiary Acclarent Inc., a California-based medical device manufacturer, has agreed to pay $18 million to resolve allegations that it caused healthcare providers to submit false claims to Medicare and other federal healthcare programs, the Justice Department said on Friday.

The case involved allegations Acclarent marketed its sinus spacer product for use as a drug delivery device without U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for that purpose, the department said in a statement. read more »

Health First Beats Whistleblower's 'Shotgun-Style' FCA Suit

A Florida federal judge on Friday dismissed an amended False Claims Act suit against Health First Inc., finding that a whistleblower's claims that the nonprofit medical company defrauded the government of hundreds of millions of dollars were not specific enough.

U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton gave the unidentified whistleblower from Brevard County until Aug. 22 to fix the pleadings or he will close the case permanently. He offered several criticisms of the amended complaint, noting that despite being “a lengthy 234 paragraphs,” less than half of the content addresses the defendants' alleged “illegal and fraudulent practices” and about one-third is made up of statements of law and legal conclusions about various laws and government programs.

“Given the necessity of pleading FCA claims with particularity, the large number of defendants named in the amended complaint, and the expanse of time at issue, relator’s shotgun-style pleading is particularly problematic and must be remedied,” Judge Dalton said. read more »

Prefered Imaging, LLC to Pay $3,510,000 to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations

Preferred Imaging, LLC, (Preferred Imaging), a provider of diagnostic imaging services, has agreed to pay $3,510,000 to resolve allegations that it improperly billed Medicare and Medicaid for services performed without proper medical supervision in violation of the False Claims Act and the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act.  Preferred Imaging cooperated with the investigation and, by settling, did not admit any wrongdoing or liability.  The announcement was made today by U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas. read more »