Fiat Chrysler faces federal investigation

Fiat Chrysler, the Italian car company that produces Ram and Jeep, is under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to news reports. The investigations come after a lawsuit filed in January 2016 alleging the company bribed dealers to falsely boost sales numbers.

The company had posted record sales in December 2015, and it had 75 straight months of year-over-year sales increases. But in January, two dealerships — one in Florida and one in Illinois — filed a racketeering lawsuit accusing the company’s U.S. arm of encouraging dealers to report inflated numbers at the end of the month by offering cash incentives and other advantages. As Bloomberg reports, earlier this month nine Fiat Chrysler dealership managers got home visits from the FBI. read more »

Knox County seeks more than $19 million from ex-trustee Mike Lowe

The Knox County Law Director's office has upped the ante in a false claims lawsuit against former Trustee Mike Lowe to more than $19 million, but Lowe's attorney contends the lawsuit came too late and should be tossed out.

In dueling motions filed in Knox County Chancery Court, Deputy Law Director David Wigler and defense attorney Gregory P. Isaacs are asking that the other's case be dismissed without a trial or further legal wranglings.

For the first time since the False Claims Act lawsuit was filed, the county has put a final price tag on damages and civil penalties the law department insists Lowe should pay for his thievery while in office. It totals $19.4 million, with just more than $785,896 of that in actual theft via the payment of two "ghost employees" and a scheme to overbill the county for title work. The rest represents treble damages allowed under the False Claims Act and fines of $10,000 each for 1,763 separate false claims. read more »

EU Hits Daimler and Others With Record $3.2 Billion Cartel Fine

The truck cartel operated for 14 years before being busted.

The European Commission has issued its biggest-ever antitrust fine, hitting four truck manufacturers with a total penalty of €2.93 billion ($3.24 billion) for illegal collusion between 1997 and 2011.

Daimler  DDAIF -1.88%  is the hardest hit, as it will have to pay just over €1 billion. The others are DAF, Iveco, and Volvo/Renault. MAN, which is owned by Volkswagen, escaped a fine as it was the whistleblower.

“It is not acceptable that MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco, and DAF, which together account for around 9 out of every 10 medium and heavy trucks produced in Europe, were part of a cartel instead of competing with each other,” said Margrethe Vestager, the competition commissioner. read more »

$30M Settlement with Bristol-Myers Squibb in California Whistleblower Suit

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones reached a $30 million settlement with pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb over allegations of drug marketing fraud and physician kickbacks.

The settlement stems from charges in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by three former Bristol-Myers Squibb sales representatives. Jones joined the whistleblowers in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged that Bristol-Myers Squibb violated the California Insurance Frauds Prevention Act by employing and using sales representatives for the purpose of defrauding private commercial health insurers by using kickbacks to procure patients or clients.

Ex-Brokers Hit Morgan With $20M Whistleblower Suit

Two ex-brokers hit Morgan Stanley with a $20 million lawsuit this week, alleging that they were fired in retaliation for complaining about improper practices and violations of securities law at the wirehouse.

Jamie Feldman-Boland and her husband, John Boland, say that they witnessed trainees and interns entering in trades on behalf of advisors, and presumably doing so with brokers' access codes in violation of firm policy.

Other misconduct they say witnessed: an advisor trying to improperly get an insurance commission; cancelling a business deal worth $200 million to punish Feldman; and harassment of Feldman by another advisor and her branch manager. read more »