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Deloitte Consulting will pay $11.38 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that it submitted false claims under a General Services Administration (GSA) contract. Deloitte is a nationwide consulting company headquartered in New York City.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear State Farm Fire and Casualty Co.'s bid to overturn a finding that the insurance company fraudulently overbilled the government for damage from Hurricane Katrina. The case tests the U.S. False Claims Act, the law that lets whistle-blowers sue on behalf of the federal government and then collect a share of any funds recovered.

A 20-count federal indictment has been unsealed following the arrest of the owner of KMD Healthcare Services Inc., and his brother on charges they engaged in a conspiracy involving fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid billing for ambulance services, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson.

The Securities and Exchange Commission awarded more than $450,000 jointly to two individuals Friday for a tip that led the SEC to open a corporate accounting investigation and for their help once the investigation was underway. The whistleblower award is the third announced by the SEC during May, bringing the month's payouts to $10 million, the agency said.

One mistake that whistleblowers can make is assuming that the case is closed just because initial information about the fraud at hand has already been given to the government. But the doors are still in fact open.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the mayor of Harvey, Ill., has agreed to pay $10,000 and never participate in a municipal bond offering again in order to settle whistleblower fraud charges. The SEC alleges that Eric J. Kellogg was connected to a series of fraudulent bond offerings by the city. Investors were told that their money would be used to develop and construct a Holiday Inn hotel in Harvey, but instead city officials diverted at least $1.7 million in bond proceeds to fund the city's payroll and other operational costs unrelated to the hotel project.

WHISTLEBLOWER QUOTES OF THE DAY: "Employees are often best positioned to witness wrongdoing. When they report specific and credible tips to us, we will leverage that inside knowledge to advance our enforcement of the securities laws and better protect investors and the marketplace."

WHISTLEBLOWER QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Whistleblowers can receive an award not only when their tip initiates an investigation, but also when they provide new information or documentation that advances an existing inquiry."

M&T Bank Corp. (M&T Bank) has agreed to pay the United States $64 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that did not meet applicable requirements, the Justice Department announced today. M&T Bank is headquartered in Buffalo, New York.

WHISTLEBLOWER QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Issuers of securities offerings must make truthful disclosures about the company and its business operations so investors know what they're getting into when they buy the stock."

Whistleblowers perform a unique public service when they inform authorities that a company is violating the law by stealing money from the government. Commonly, in order for a whistleblower to support allegations of fraudulent activity, he or she must bring company documents to the authorities. Companies, of course, don't like this and fear whistleblowers doing that very thing.

Citing the public's interest in shielding whistleblowers from retaliation, a federal judge Monday threw out a counterclaim filed against a man who accused his employer of defrauding the government. In a written opinion, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney I. Schenkier dismissed without prejudice the counterclaim LifeWatch Services Inc. brought against Matthew Cieszynski after he sued LifeWatch under the False Claims Act.

GAO Audit: Feds Failed To Rein In Medicare Advantage Overbilling - Private Medicare Advantage plans treating the elderly have overbilled the government by billions of dollars, but rarely been forced to repay the money or face other consequences for their actions, according to a congressional audit released Monday.

The whistleblower who accused Abbott Laboratories of improperly marketing bile duct stents for off-label use asked a Texas federal judge Friday to grant a new trial after a jury in April cleared the medical device maker in a False Claims Act suit that sought $219 million in damages.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against 10 individuals involved in schemes to trick investors into buying shares of a particular company stock.

False Claims Act penalties would double under a federal regulation released this week. Under the rule, minimum per-claim penalties would rise to $10,781 from $5,500, and maximum per-claim penalties would rise to $21,563 from $11,000.

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a decision Friday that a Florida eye doctor's clinic overbilled Medicare by nearly $9 million by extracting multiple doses from a single-dose vial of medication, agreeing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that the charges were not medically reasonable.

Allowing companies to escape or face reduced liability from FCA actions because they have 'checked the boxes' on how to establish a compliance program will merely encourage companies to game this requirement the same way they game contract and regulatory requirements. Such gaming does not reduce fraud; it enables fraud.

"Whistleblowers risk their careers and reputations by reporting waste, fraud, and abuse to the proper authorities in order to promote accountability, integrity, honesty, fairness, and transparency. The commemoration of July 30 as national Whistleblower Day recognizes the first law protecting whistleblowers and it recognizes the importance of whistleblowers to our nation's transparency and accountability."

"Next week's hearing will examine the False Claims Act's success, but also what more can be done to prevent, detect, and eliminate false claims costing taxpayer dollars, while ensuring fair and just results. Meritless cases hurt the cause of whistleblowers everywhere. This hearing will explore ways of improving how we root out fraud."