SEC Whistleblower Program Surpasses $100 Million in Awards

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s awards to whistleblowers have surpassed the $100 million mark with the program’s second-largest award of more than $22 million announced earlier today.

The whistleblower program was established by Congress to incentivize whistleblowers with specific, timely and credible information about federal securities law violations to report to the SEC. To date, enforcement actions resulting from whistleblower tips have resulted in orders for more than $500 million in financial remedies, much of which has been returned to harmed investors. read more »

Flash Crashes, ETFs & An Arbitrage Trader's Dream

IN AN UNPRECEDENTED EFFORT, OUR FIRM'S CLIENT DISCOVERED THE MANIPULATIVE ACTIVITY THAT WAS BROUGHT TO THE ATTENTION OF THE CFTC AND DOJ WHO SUBSEQUENTLY CHARGED MR. SARAO AND NOW SEEK HIS EXTRADITION

Flash crashes and rogue traders – there’ve been a few.  Most trading folk will recall the May 6 ‘flash crash’ in 2010 – also known as ‘The Crash of 2:45’ or simply the 2010 Flash Crash. Yet has anything been learned since then or even last August’s ETF flash crash in the US? Perhaps, but there is always room for improvement even if there is no silver bullet or sacred cow on hand.

The events that unfolded in the US equity market on August 24, 2015, which followed the Treasury ‘Flash Rally’ on October 15, 2014, offered the first true opportunity to assess how effective reforms implemented in reaction to the Flash Crash of 2010 were. These measures spanned individual stock trading halts, policies to address erroneous transactions as well as the market-wide circuit breaker. read more »

Mother and Son Plead Guilty to Orchestrating $16 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme at Two Miami Pharmacies

A mother and son based in Miami each pleaded guilty today to fraud charges for their roles in a $16 million Medicare fraud scheme.

As part of her guilty plea, Fernandez admitted that she was an owner of Calan Pharmacy & Discount Service LLC (Calan Pharmacy) and Bertyann Corp., doing business as Best Pharmacy, two pharmacies located in Miami-Dade County, Florida.  Fernandez was an organizer and leader of a Medicare fraud scheme that paid Medicare beneficiaries and patient recruiters for prescriptions that were medically unnecessary, according to the plea agreement.  Fernandez also admitted that she and her co-conspirators at Calan Pharmacy and Best Pharmacy billed Medicare for many prescription medications that they never even dispensed to the beneficiaries.  read more »

Ex-Monsanto Employee Gets $22 Million From SEC, Lawyer Says

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission awarded $22 million to a former Monsanto Co. employee who tipped off the regulator to improper accounting, according to the whistleblower’s attorney.

The whistleblower was a financial executive with Monsanto, which agreed in February to pay $80 million to settle with the SEC in a case tied to reporting of revenue from its weed-killer Roundup, according to Stuart Meissner, the ex-employee’s attorney. Meissner didn’t identify the tipster by name in a statement released Tuesday. read more ».

Prosecution of Financial Crisis Fraud Ends With a Whimper

One source of great frustration from the financial crisis has been the dearth of cases against individuals over subprime lending practices and the related securitization of bad loans that caused so much financial havoc. To heighten the frustration, I offer Aug. 22, 2016, as the day on which efforts to pursue cases related to subprime mortgages were put to rest with no individuals — save perhaps the unfortunate former Goldman Sachs trader Fabrice Tourre — held accountable.

On that date, the Securities and Exchange Commission settled its last remaining case against a former Fannie Mae chief executive for securities fraud related to the disclosure of the company’s subprime mortgage exposure. The agency accepted a mere token payment that will not even come out of the individual’s own pocket. read more »

Utah offers big reward to blow the whistle on financial scams

The Beehive State is one of two in the nation with a “whistleblower” law, allowing the state to pay out rewards to people who help uncover any kind of financial fraud.

Only one person had collected on a reward since the law was enacted in 2011. read more »

AstraZeneca to pay $5.52 million to resolve SEC foreign bribery case

U.S. regulators said on Tuesday that AstraZeneca Plc will pay $5.52 million to resolve a foreign bribery probe into improper payments by its sales and marketing staff to state-employed healthcare officials in China and Russia.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission detailed the settlement with the London-based drug company in an order instituting an administrative proceeding arising out of violations of provisions in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. read more »

The FCPA and the fight against terrorism

last week, John Kerry brought the circle to completion in the worldwide fight against bribery and corruption when he directly tied the war on terrorism to the scourge of bribery and corruption in a speech he gave  in Nigeria entitled, “Remarks on Community Building and Countering Violent Extremism.” These remarks should end once and for all any legitimate arguments to denude the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) often put forward by those seeking to change the direction of FCPA enforcement.

Celgene Battles $40B FCA Suit Over Off-Label Promos

Celgene Corp. on Monday pressed a California federal judge to end a whistleblower’s $40 billion False Claims Act suit over off-label promotion of cancer drugs Thalomid and Revlimid, asserting that government officials knew about off-label uses and didn’t object. read more »