Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog

Years without accountability for big corporations, banks, and Wall Street resulted in the greatest financial crisis since the 1930's Depression. Eight million jobs were lost,
the housing market plummeted, businesses went bankrupt, and millions lost their personal savings and retirements. Consequently, more and more people have become aware of the devastating impact corporate fraud can create on the economy and individual Americans.

As a result, studies show that a greater number of employees are willing to become whistleblowers: turning in their employer for corruption, fraud, and wrongdoing. One of the motivating factors prompting employees to come forward is the incentive of financial reward that is paid out to whistleblowers who report false claims.

According to the federal government, there has been a spike in whistleblower cases filed with the U.S. government since 2005. Americans have become more exposed to the enormous corporate scandals involving subprime mortgage lenders, Bernie Madoff, or Enron--where the entire company has fallen apart and destroyed thousands of employees and shareholders' financial futures, gravely impacting the economy. Consequently, there is a greater awareness concerning the importance of blowing the whistle on corporate fraud.

For example, just last week the federal government ordered Bank of America to pay a whistleblower close to a million dollars in interest and back wages and was required to reinstate an employee who showed great courage in reporting fraud and standing up against it.

This is a positive trend that will in turn protect consumers, employees, and hopefully help prevent future scandals from causing such devastating impact. Nevertheless, corporations fear such results. And now, a new law--the Dodd Frank Financial Reform law--has been implemented providing monetary rewards for whistleblowers who report financial fraud.

Good Georgia Lawyer represents whistleblowers in qui tam or false claims whistleblower actions. We encourage you to read here to learn more.

Continue reading "Good Georgia Whistleblower Lawyer Discusses Increase In Employees Blowing The Whistle On Corporate Fraud" »

Good Georgia Lawyer represents whistleblower employees who "blow the whistle" on their employer when they come forward with information that their employer is defrauding the government by violating the Federal False Claims Act. Federal prosecutors report that they have added two new health care fraud teams this year and studies say that this might provide an 85 percent increase in the number of health care fraud prosecutions in 2011 compared to 2010.

Thus far, 903 prosecutions for health fraud have ben reported so far this year of 2011. This is actually a a 24% increase from last year's total in 2010.

The recent past two year debate about health care reform has drawn the spotlight on the problem of health care fraud and its effect on the cost of health care. The Department of Justice reports that convictions have increased, so far there has been 24 trial convictions for fraud in Medicare compared to 23 last year.

In 2010, the United States recovered four billion dollars from health fraud cases after federal health care law established one health care fraud agency and enlarged another.
Medicare predicted provisions of the law would actually net $4.9 billion in abusive fraud savings in the ten years, which should be rolled back into Medicare.

The FBI's health care fraud criminal investigation unit also reports an increase in cases, which specifically focuses on corporations or hospitals.

Good Georgia Lawyer has written extensively about whistleblower actions in Georgia as it is a subject that is near and dear to our heart. For some examples of false claims fraud against the government and reasons why you should blow the whistle, read here.

The reasons, as we explain in this article are that you can help save lives by:

• Protecting Consumers by preventing companies from selling defective products that injure and kill;

• Protecting patients by discouraging pharmaceutical companies from marketing off labels pharmaceutical drugs unlawfully and preventing corporations from committing medicare and medicaid fraud by having them perform unnecessary or incorrect medical procedures.

• Protecting Soldiers from government contractors who sell defective military bulletproof vests and other protective gear;

• Protecting the Environment by discouraging companies who unlawfully steal our land's resources.

Other Reasons to Blow the Whistle:

You may be eligible to receive a portion (usually about 15 to 25 percent) of any recovered damages which sometimes can add up to millions of dollars in False Claims. It is important to be the person who reports it first because that person is the one who is entitled to financial reward. The law protects you from retaliation, demotion, harassment, and termination for reporting fraud.

If you work for a hospital, medical clinic, pharmeceutical company, or other corporation and you know that your company is cheating and defrauding the government, contact Williams Oinonen LLC today at 404-654-0288.

Yesterday, the Department of Justice and four states filed a multibillion-dollar fraud suit against EMC, the Education Management Corporation, known as the nation's second-largest for-profit college company. The states joining in the suit are California, Florida, Illinois and Indiana. The suit filed that EMC was not eligible for the $11 billion in state and federal financial aid it obtained from the United States government from 2003 through 2011.

The CEO of EMC was previously the head of the University of Phoenix, which has settled suits in the past related to very similar behavior.

While the civil lawsuit is one of many charging the ever growing for profit college industry, the case is the first where the U.S. government agreed to intervene on the whistle-blowers' claims that they consistently violated federal law by paying recruiters based on how many students it enrolled. The lawsuit alleged that each year, the for profit company falsely certified that it complied with the law, making it eligible to receive student financial aid.

The complaint alleged that EMC had a "boiler-room style sales culture" where admissions recruiters were told to use high-pressure sales tactics and exaggerated claims about career placement to increase student enrollment, regardless of a prospective students' qualifications. Recruiters were urged to enroll even those who were unable to write coherent English, who appeared to be on drugs or who applied to an online program but had no computer.

Under Georgia law, § 13-5-5, fraud makes a contract voidable and thus a student could sue for rescind the contract, to put herself back in the position she was prior to the contract. In this particular case, the "whistleblowers" are likely not students who have been hurt but former employees who may know of inside information on the company's fraudulent activity. This type of case is called a "False Claims," "Whistleblower," or "Qui Tam" lawsuit. It is based on a federal law (31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-3733) that imposes liability on persons or corporations who defraud the government.

The law includes a "qui tam" provision that allows people to "blow the whistle". Persons filing under the Act stand to receive a portion (usually about 15-25 percent) of any recovered damages. The government has recovered nearly billions of dollars as a result of these actions.

Good Georgia Lawyer has represented former students who have been exploited and mistreated by for profit colleges. For more information on whistleblower lawsuits, read our former article which explains whistleblower law further. If you have a potential whistleblower case, please contact Williams Oinonen LLC for more information.

What should you do when you learn secret information that your employer is stealing from, lying to, and cheating the federal or state government? This is a question that many prospective clients encounter on the job. The best answer when faced with this question is that you should immediately seek confidential legal counsel from a whistleblower lawyer because your employer's illegal behavior may very likely constitute a violation of the False Claims Act.

Examples of the False Claims Act can include:

1. Medicaid or Medicare fraud: This is when doctors, hospitals, or pharmacies seek and receive reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid funds. Oftentimes they may be billing for services not rendered, or misrepresenting services or goods, or even providing defective goods or services.

2. Pharmaceutical Fraud: This is when pharmacies can market drugs for uses not approved by the FDA, market drugs to doctors illegally, or charge illegal prices.

3. Federal Government Fraud: This is where contractors who sell goods and services to the federal government fail to meet contract obligations or fail to provide goods and services that meet federal laws and regulations.

4. Defense Contractor Fraud: Defense contractors who provide weapons systems, uniforms, supplies, vehicles, or other equipment are also required to comply with their contract and the laws. Those who don't are also in violations of the False Claims Act.

Why you should blow the whistle:

Whistleblowers who report violations of the False Claims Act end up saving lives by:

• Protecting Consumers by discouraging companies from selling defective and poor quality products that could cause harm;

• Protecting patients by discouraging companies from conducting medical fraud by selling defective medical products and preventing hospitals from performing unnecessary procedures;

• Protecting Soldiers by discouraging government contractors from selling faulty bulletproof vests and weaponry;

• Protecting the Environment by discouraging oil, timber, and mining companies from extracting resources from public lands unlawfully.

Perhaps the best reason to "blow the whistle" can be summed up in a quote by Reuben Guttman, expert whistleblower attorney and co-founder of Voices for Corporate Responsibility. Mr. Guttman recently surmised:

"You cannot enforce a law if there are no eyes to report the wrongdoing. When government agencies will never be able to afford enough inspectors to monitor compliance, workers and consumers need to be the eyes and ears of government. And, yes as 'whistleblowers.'"

Other Incentives to Blow the Whistle---Financial Reward:

The False Claims Act, also known as the Qui Tam law states that if you report a violation to the government and the government takes the case, you are eligible to receive a portion (usually about 15 to 25 percent) of any recovered damages. Some successful plaintiffs have recovered millions of dollars in False Claims cases. It is important to be the first source of information of the fraud because generally that is only the person who is entitled to a financial award. Additionally, the law protects you from harassment, demotion, retaliation, and wrongful termination for reporting fraud.

Williams Oinonen LLC is committed to working with whistleblowers throughout Georgia and beyond.