Fines Alone Won’t Deter Corporate Crime

How should you punish companies that break the law? Granted, it's a difficult question -- but U.S. prosecutors need a better answer.

When the U.S. Justice Department said it wanted $14 billion from Deutsche Bank AG for mortgage-related transgressions -- an amount that has threatened to do grievous harm to one of the world's largest financial institutions, deprive people around the world of important financial services, and cost thousands of jobs -- markets tumbled and German politicians cried foul. Some central bankers are worried that fines amounting to more than $175 billion since 2010 for financial institutions alone could be holding back an already weak global economy.

Going easy, though, can't be the answer. Like every association under the sun, corporate entities are not immune to bad behavior. read more »

A bribe called quest: The road to policing corporate corruption began with Nixon and Watergate

If you want to understand why a major New Jersey-based global IT outsourcing company revealed it may have paid bribes to Indian officials, go back to Watergate — yes, that Watergate, the one that forced President Richard Nixon to resign in a political crisis that makes the election of Donald Trump look tame by comparison. read more »

Judge awards $1.9 million in Idaho medical clinic whistleblower case

The former chief financial officer of a chain of medical clinics in Washington and Idaho has been awarded $1.9 million after claiming he was fired for refusing to file fabricated financial reports.

Gregg Becker was the CFO of Rockwood Clinic, which has a dozen primary care clinics and other specialty clinics in the Spokane and Coeur d'Alene areas, The Spokesman-Review reported.

Becker sued in 2012, saying he was fired when he refused to rework his projections of the company's losses that year. He estimated the losses at $12.8 million, but he said the company tried to bully him into lowering the figure to $4 million. read more »

Jury Convicts Home Health Agency Owner in $13 Million Medicare Fraud Conspiracy

A federal jury in the Southern District of Texas convicted a Houston-based home-health agency owner for her role in a $13 million Medicare fraud scheme and money laundering.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge D. Richard Goss of Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation’s (IRS-CI) Houston Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Perrye K. Turner of the FBI’s Houston Field Office and Special Agent in Charge C.J. Porter of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Dallas Regional Office made the announcement. read more »

Marie Neba, 52, of Sugarland, Texas, co-owner of Fiango Home Healthcare Inc. (Fiango) was convicted yesterday of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, three counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks, one count of payment and receipt of health care kickbacks, one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and one count of making false statements read more »

Critic of Malaysian Leader Is Sentenced for Disclosing Audit Information

An outspoken member of Malaysia’s Parliament was sentenced on Monday to 18 months in prison for publicly disclosing classified information from an official audit into a scandal-plagued government investment fund.

The United States Justice Department says that more than $3 billion is missing from the fund and that at least $731 million of it was deposited into the personal bank account of the prime minister, identified as “Malaysian Official 1.” The Justice Department filed suit in federal court in California in July to recover more than $1 billion in assets that it said were acquired by Mr. Najib’s stepson and close associates in the United States with money stolen from the fund, including high-end real estate and expensive artwork. read more »