Medtronic Whistleblower Lawsuit

The Medtronic whistleblower lawsuit was filed by a former employee of Medtronic, one of the largest medical device makers in the U.S. The whistleblower contended that in recent years the company had spent millions of dollars on consulting contracts and a series of other payments to doctors and prominent surgeons in the spinal-implant division in order to retain the doctors’ business and ensure that they used Medtronic devices. The Medtronic whistleblower lawsuit accuses Medtronic of distributing unwarranted Medicare money and kickbacks to over 130 surgeons who promoted off-label use of FDA-approved medical devices and filed Medicare claims in direct violation of the False Claims Act. Specifics that were uncovered after a thorough medical fraud investigation include details of a prominent surgeon in Wisconsin who was paid $400,000 a year by Medtronic for a consulting contract which only required eight days of work. Other internal Medtronic documents filed as part of the suit provide details of the intense campaign that device makers waged to win doctors’ loyalty. The Medtronic whistleblower lawsuit was settled in 2006 when Medtronic agreed to pay $40 million in damages whilst maintaining that they had not been responsible for any wrongdoing.

Pfizer Whistleblower Lawsuit

The Pfizer whistleblower lawsuit was filed in 2003 by Gulf War veteran and former Pifzner sales representative, Kopchinski who earned more then $51.5 million dollars in whistleblower rewards. After filing a qui tam lawsuit Kopchinski encouraged the government to implement a medical fraud investigation into Pfizer, the corporate giant and largest pharmaceutical company in the world.

Pfizer was accused of encouraging promotion of the painkiller Bextra in unsafe doses beyond the level for which it had been sanctioned and had been specifically denied approval by the FDA due to serious health concerns. Medicaid fraud whistleblower, Kopchinski and others claimed that Pfizer fully sanctioned off –label promotions on various drugs even after receiving warning letters. Kopchinski and five other whistleblowers involved in the Pfizer whistleblower lawsuit earned more than $102 million in payments from the U.S. government under the False Claims Act through which individuals can gain financial rewards for exposing fraudulent activity. In 2009 the company paid $2.3 billion in civil and criminal penalties after pleading guilty to the felony charge for promoting Bextra and twelve other drugs for doses and uses that were unapproved.

If you know someone involved in Medicaid fraud and want to see that they are held accountable for their actions, a whistleblower attorney at our personal injury law firm can offer their legal help. Please fill out an online form and learn more about your legal rights and the consequences of filing suit.

Floyd Landis Whistleblower Lawsuit

The Floyd Landis whistleblower lawsuit was filed under the U.S Federal False Claims Act which allows citizens who are in no way affiliated with the government to sue on behalf of the government. The Act states that individuals can file suit against federal contractors that have allegedly defrauded the government. Federal Whistleblower law usually allows informants or whistleblowers to receive a reward of between 15 to 30 percent of recovered damages.

The Floyd Landis Whistleblower lawsuit accuses team-mate and seven times winner of the Tour de France; Lance Armstrong of using performance enhancing drugs whilst under U.S Postal Service sponsorship contract. Although specific details of this federal whistleblower lawsuit remain under lock and key it is more than likely that Armstrong will be accused of committing fraud against the U.S Postal Service in relation to the alleged doping.

Federal Whistleblower Law

The federal whistleblower law was introduced to encourage individuals to speak up if they have inside knowledge of anybody defrauding the government. Therefore Landis, who served as Armstrong’s lieutenant on the U.S Postal Service cycling team from 2002 to 2004, could be entitled to receive between 15 to 30 percent of the funds recovered to the USPS, if his case is successful. The U.S Postal Service no longer sponsors athletes and the U.S government is currently investigating the matter and deciding whether to join Landis in the litigation against Armstrong and his corporate backers.

If you know someone who is involved in fraudulent activity but are unsure about whether to blow the whistle, and see that they are held accountable for their actions, a whistleblower attorney at our personal injury law firm can offer their legal help. Please fill out an online form and learn more about your legal rights and the consequences of filing suit.

Whistleblower Rewards

A Whistleblower reward can be as much as 15 to 30 percent of the funds that are reimbursed to the government, in some cases these whistleblower awards can be so high that the whistleblower in question will never have to work again. The Dodd Frank Act introduces a number of whistleblower provisions that are designed to provide a substantial, financial whistleblower reward.

Whistleblower Compensation

The high paying Whistleblower awards can certainly compensate for the risks that are involved with filing suit against an employer. Another incentive that encourages individuals to blow the whistle on an employer is the precautionary concept of whistleblower compensation whereby the government will compensate the whistleblower for legal fees if they decide to sue their employer without the government joining the case. These new whistleblower provisions state that whistleblowers can bring their claims directly in federal court and prevailing claimants are also able to obtain reinstatement, double back pay, interest and whistleblower compensation for legal fees including litigation costs and attorney fees.

Accusing an employer of fraud against the government is an extremely serious charge which can cause the claimant a great deal of stress and anxiety. The whistleblower reward of a successful lawsuit can undoubtedly compensate for the risk but an allegation will subject employers to a serious government investigation that will not be dropped even if you decide to drop your lawsuit.

If you know someone involved in fraud but are unsure about whether to blow the whistle, and see that they are held accountable for their actions, an experienced whistleblower attorney at our personal injury law firm can offer their legal help. Please fill out an online form and learn more about your legal rights, the consequences of filing suit, whistleblower awards and the whistleblower compensation you can receive.

Do your research

Does the company you are blowing the whistle on have a whistleblower program or policy? If so, it is important do exactly as the policy says to avoid charges brought upon you. If not, establish a person or agency that will be most interested in the information you supply them. You can report misconduct to whistleblower lawyers, watchdog agencies, and if you aren’t getting the necessary attention, you can report issues to the media.

Will you protect your identity?

The most common fear for whistleblowers is employer retribution and though there are laws to protect whistleblowers, whistleblowers still report unfair treatment from bosses, co-worker and future employers. Remaining anonymous will protect you for a while.

Prepare to be challenged

Make sure you are supported with concrete information in case you need to defend your position. Most whistleblower cases involve years of investigation; keep track of all records.

If you are thinking of coming forward and blowing the whistle on your employer or another person, please fill out the form on our Free Consultation page today! Our whistleblower lawyers will evaluate your case confidentially and at no cost.

Business Fraud Cases

Business fraud has been on the up and up since Italian immigrant Charles Ponzi perfected one of the world’s most famous illegal business practices; the pyramid scheme in the 1920s.The most notable account of fraud in U.S history was recently revealed when Wall Street Giant, Bernard Madoff and founder of the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, was convicted for orchestrating a $65million dollar Ponzi Scheme. This is an example of the biggest business fraud cases in history however business fraud cases are also rife within the small business sector.

Small Business Fraud

Small business fraud and other illegal business practices associated with white collar crime have also been increasing in recent years. Small businesses are privately owned and operated, with only a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales when compared with multinational corporations. Small businesses are usually privately owned corporations or partnerships and according to the Association for Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) they are also much more likely to suffer disproportionate losses as a result of business fraud. This is because many small business fraud cases are internal.

In response to other famous illegal business practices such as WorldCom, Tyco International and most notably the Enron scandal, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was introduced in an attempt to curtail all levels of business fraud. This Act provides whistleblowers with protection from any form of retaliation, and also stipulates that all public companies are required to disclose financial information and highlight any illegal business practices or faulty accounting. In 2008 small businesses were given a one year extension to meet with the regulations of this Act. The SEC also provides a number of resources to help small businesses comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and ultimately prevent small business fraud from occurring.

If you are a small business entrepreneur and want to find out more about more about business fraud and methods of prevention, please fill out an online form and receive reliable and indispensable legal advice tailored to your specific needs. If you know someone involved in business fraud but are unsure about whether to blow the whistle, and see that they are held accountable for their actions, an experienced whistleblower attorney at our personal injury law firm can offer their legal help.

What is this whistleblowers protection, you might ask?

Previously a whistleblower had to worry that doing the right thing would cost them their job. There was no set of whistleblower statutes or rights for someone who could not sit by and watch their company commit wrongdoings that broke the law.

If they could not be protected they might now bring these issues to light. In light of this the U.S. Government established the Whistleblowers Protection Act. This protects the whistleblower in many areas, none more important than in the event of whistleblower retaliation which is incredibly common. In cases where whistleblower retaliation is found the whistleblower protection provides assistance to those who cannot otherwise defend themselves.

It is important for any employee to understand the whistleblower statutes that apply in a case of suspicion against their employer. These vary depending on the type of employment or area of work such as: corporate, federal, army. Depending on these different areas the whistleblower statue might dictate who the employee can talk to about the issue. In federal or army cases where top secret being revealed is problematic the whistleblowers protection and rights might be waived if they talk to someone not cleared for that information.

Different countries have different laws that apply to whistleblower rights and protection.

In the U.K. they have provided a legal framework for whistleblower protection to help expose issues of malpractice and other similar issues that face the common worker.

Interestingly, in Canada they have been fairly behind on whistleblower protection. Not until fairly recently have they set up legal precedent in defending someone from whistleblower retaliation, in the business or governmental realm. They passed some whistleblower protection but it has gone through much scrutiny and it is still unclear what will happen.

Whistleblower protection is crucial in society. For someone wanting to do the right thing whistleblower retaliation should not be a fear that prevents them from acting. The discussion for whistleblower rights should continue and evolve until sides, employer and employee, feel comfortable and within the law.

Seven years ago, David Franklin sued his former employer, Warner-Lambert, for illegally marketing an epilepsy drug for unapproved uses. Little did he know how much that whistleblower lawsuit would unsettle his life.

The microbiologist ended up blackballed in the pharmaceutical industry and had to endure an emotionally and financially draining odyssey as a whistleblower.

“This has been the most disruptive thing that could ever take place in someone’s life,” he says.

But today, at 42, Franklin is a very wealthy man. He was awarded $26.6 million as part of a $430 million settlement Pfizer — which didn’t become involved until it bought Warner-Lambert four years ago — agreed to Thursday with the Justice Department and state attorneys general.

The company pleaded guilty to marketing Neurontin to treat about a dozen ailments for which it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and for bilking the Medicaid program. (Story: Pfizer settles fraud case)

Franklin filed his lawsuit under the U.S. False Claims Act, which allows private citizens to sue on behalf of the government and get a portion of awards in cases where firms defraud the government.

Franklin now is at the medical-device maker Boston Scientific, where he helps physicians decide how to best treat their patients. That’s a dramatic departure from his four months at Warner-Lambert. “I was the individual paid to lie to doctors,” Franklin says. “I got involved in something I didn’t realize it was wrong at first.”

Franklin says he would try to persuade doctors to prescribe Neurontin for uses including bipolar disorder that weren’t proved either safe or effective. He would do so at pharmaceutical “boondoggle” weekends and other venues.

He hated what he was advocating, which he considered akin to experimenting on patients. So he started gathering documents and voice mails that would prove the company was trying to get around the law by promoting unapproved uses of the drug. After he quit his job, he took the information to whistleblower attorney Tom Greene of Greene & Hoffman, who brought it to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston, which launched a criminal investigation.

“It took a lot of courage for Dave to come forward at great risk to his professional career and his family and a tremendous amount of public good has resulted,” Greene says.

After leaving the company in 1996, the usually outgoing Franklin says he had such “intense shame” about what he did while at Warner-Lambert that he became almost reclusive for about four years. He says it wasn’t until the case became public and he started hearing from patients who could forgive him for what happened that he felt “reinvigorated.”

Thursday’s settlement gives him even more personal satisfaction — not to mention enough money that he could walk away and retire. But Franklin only plans to take his wife and two daughters on vacation. And Franklin says he is not going to be like a lottery winner who at first plans to keep working, but then changes their mind. “I am the quintessential workaholic,” Franklin says. “I like to think this won’t change my life.”

Louis Clark, president of the Government Accountability Project, says even well-compensated whistleblowers often keep working because settlements energize them. “Whistleblowers are usually the hardest-working people in the office to begin with and have the highest standards, which is what led them to blow the whistle in the first place,” Clark says.

Franklin says whistleblowing isn’t for everyone: “It takes real staying power.”

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If you are thinking of coming forward and blowing the whistle on your employer or another company, please fill out the form on our Free Consultation page today! Our whistleblower attorneys will evaluate your case confidentially and at no cost.

The information you submit will be kept EXTREMELY CONFIDENTIAL. We will not share your information with anyone.

The settlement stems from a U.S. investigation of collusion among drug companies and doctors to bill government health programs for free samples given as promotions. AstraZeneca Plc and Tap Pharmaceuticals Inc. pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to settlements totaling more than $1.2 billion.

“The cost, while seeming to be a lot, probably is worth it to get this issue out of the way,” said Ira Loss, a health-policy analyst at Washington Analysis, which advises institutional investors on federal policy. “Pfizer doesn’t want to have a trial about this, and I don’t think any other major company would either. It’s just easier to pay it off and move on.”

Pfizer, which acquired Parke-Davis when it bought Warner- Lambert Co. for about $120 billion in June 2000, said in a regulatory filing in March it set aside $427 million in the fourth quarter in connection with efforts to resolve investigations into the promotion of Neurontin. The alleged misconduct occurred before Pfizer acquired Warner-Lambert, Pfizer said in its annual report. Pfizer said Neurontin sales exceeded $1 billion last year.

Whistleblower

The lawsuit was originally filed by former Parke-Davis employee Thomas Franklin, who  blew the whistle by alleging that the company lavished doctors with dinners, trips to the Olympics and resorts in an effort to market Neurontin as a treatment for other ailments such as migraines and sought reimbursement from Medicaid, the government’s health insurance program for low-income people.

Pfizer spokesman Paul Fitzhenry and Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller declined to comment. The Justice Department said in an e-mail to reporters it will hold a noon news conference today about a “health matter” that will include Associate Attorney General Robert D. McCallum and Michael J. Sullivan, the U.S. attorney in Boston whose office investigated the Pfizer case.

The Justice Department is also investigating the marketing of the Genotropin growth hormone and Bextra painkiller, Pfizer said in a regulatory filing two months ago. Those drugs were obtained last year when Pfizer bought Pharmacia Corp. Pfizer and a dozen other drug companies are also accused in a lawsuit by Pennsylvania Attorney General Jerry Pappert of inflating drug prices with marketing costs.

Wider Probe

The government also has scrutinized the marketing practices of other pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Eli Lilly & Co., Schering-Plough Corp. and Barr Laboratories Inc.

AstraZeneca Plc pleaded guilty in 2003 to criminal conspiracy and paid $355 million to settle charges that government health programs were billed for free samples of the prostate drug Zoladex given to doctors.

Tap Pharmaceutical Products Inc., a joint venture of Abbott Laboratories and Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd., agreed in 2001 to pay $875 million to settle criminal and civil charges it encouraged doctors to bill government health programs for samples of the cancer drug Lupron.

Last month, 11 current and former Tap sales representatives and executives went on trial in federal court in Boston after a whistleblower claimed they gave doctors free samples, cash, trips to Hawaii and Rolling Stones concert tickets to promote the company’s drugs.

The investigation of Tap was also triggered by a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former sales vice president under a statute that allows whistleblowers to share in the proceeds of judgments against companies that defraud the government.

The law was passed during the Civil War to help crack down on war profiteering. In the Tap case, Douglas Durand, the former sales executive, was awarded $77 million for his role in the case.

To contact the reporter on this story:
James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor of this story:
Glenn Hall at ghall@bloomberg.net.

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If you are thinking of coming forward and blowing the whistle on your employer or another company, please fill out the form on our Free Consultation page today! Our whistleblower attorneys will evaluate your case confidentially and at no cost.

The information you submit will be kept EXTREMELY CONFIDENTIAL. We will not share your information with anyone.

The law empowers the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to award between 10 and 30 percent of any monetary sanctions that exceed $1 million to whistleblowers providing information leading to a successful enforcement. The hope is that, said the Journal, massive financial debacles, such as what was seen in the historic Bernard Madoff Ponzi scam, be averted.

We previously wrote that according the Financial Times, the so-called “Wall Street Tip-Off Law” is expected to lead to a sharp increase in tips from senior employees and third parties with knowledge of securities fraud. “The scale of the awards reflects the high quality of whistleblower we hope to get people within a company, broker or other regulated firm that we might not have heard from before,” Stephen Cohen, an SEC official, told the Financial Times. “We’re expecting a tremendous response.”

Whistleblower attorneys are passing the information along. “We’ve gotten some very high-quality tips,” SEC official Stephen Cohen told the Journal. “The goal is not just to get more tips; we want to get more high-quality tips,” Cohen added, noting that the law is meant to speed information delivery, but to also close cases, minimize loss, and recover victim funds, wrote the Journal. Not unexpectedly, defense lawyers say that the program could prompt the reporting of meaningless cases and could stop employees from working through these issues internally, said the Journal.

Because of the broad nature of the new program, it is conceivable that informants will not always be corporate insiders, but those who could present a case that enables the SEC to locate a fraud, said the Journal, noting that this element of the program was likely put in place in response to the Madoff fiasco. In that case, Harry Markopolos had approached the SEC on a variety of occasions over several years with information pointing to Madoff’s massively growing Ponzi scam.

The Act was passed in response to the recent recession, which holds the record as the worst economic meltdown experienced by the US since the Great Depression; securities malfeasance played a large role in the downturn. Until Dodd-Frank was enacted, the SEC could only provide a whistleblower award for information regarding insider trading, limiting the award to a maximum of 10 percent of the recovered amount.

Now, whistleblowers can report fraud anonymously and employers are prohibited from firing, demoting, suspending, threatening, harassing, or discriminating against them. To be eligible, a whistleblower’s information must lead to a successful SEC or CFTC enforcement. Regulators will determine the extent of awards based on a number of factors, including the significance of the information provided and whistleblower assistance.

Another report in Forbes Magazine recommended that those seeking to take advantage of the new law consult with an attorney to ensure their rights are protected; all anonymous whistleblowers must be represented by a whistleblower attorney.

Legal Help & Free Case Evaluation

If you are thinking of coming forward and blowing the whistle on your employer or another company, please fill out the form on our Free Consultation page today! Our whistleblower attorneys will evaluate your case confidentially and at no cost.

The information you submit will be kept EXTREMELY CONFIDENTIAL. We will not share your information with anyone.

A 2009 ProPublica investigation uncovered more than a thousand reports of water contamination from drilling across the country, some from surface spills of fracking fluid and some from seepage underground. ProPublica also found dozens of homes in several states in which gas from drilling had migrated through underground cracks into basements or wells. In many instances, drillers have been fined for failing to report spills and other accidents. Fracking whistleblowers can make sure that gas drillers pay a price when they damage the environment and put public health at risk.

If you are aware of misconduct on the part of a gas driller, please contact our fracking whistleblower lawyers today. You can be assured that the information you submit to our fracking whistleblower lawyers will be kept EXTREMELY CONFIDENTIAL.

Fracking is used in natural gas wells to push fluid and sand at very high pressure into rock formations to release natural gas. The fluid used in fracking can contain chemicals that are hazardous and carcinogenic. Unfortunately, because the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempted hydraulic fracturing from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act – a provision known as the “Halliburton loophole” – gas drillers don’t have to disclose what chemicals they use.

How did this happen? According to whistleblower Weston Wilson, heavy industry influence on a panel that reviewed findings from a 2004 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report on hydraulic fracturing is to blame. In October of 2004, Wilson, then a 31-year EPA employee, applied for protection under the federal Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 in order to get the word out about the flawed fracking report. According to Wilson, EPA scientists had proven that there was a risk of benzene and other toxic chemicals migrating into ground water from drilling activities. However, the industry-friendly panel suppressed this data from the final report. Congress relied on those skewed findings when it exempted fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Over the past decade, the use of hydraulic fracturing by gas drillers has boomed, and fracking operations have been popped up in a number of states, including Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Because of the Halliburton loophole, regulation of these fracking operations is left to the states, which are often not up to the job. The ProPublica investigation found, for example, that while the number of gas wells being drilled in 22 states each year has jumped 45 percent since 2004, most of the states have added only a few regulators.

With so little regulation of fracking, it’s not surprising that we are beginning to hear about serious water contamination incidents and other problems associated with gas drilling operations. The public needs to learn the truth about fracking, and whistleblowers could very well be the only way this will happen.

Fracking whistleblowers can make sure drillers live up to their obligations to operate in a way that doesn’t endanger the environment or public health. If you have information about wrongdoing that involves hydraulic fracturing, our fracking whistleblower lawyers can help. Please call us today for a free, confidential, no-obligation evaluation of your case. Simply fill out our online form, or call 1 800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636) today to speak with one of our fracking whistleblower lawyers.

Legal Help & Free Case Evaluation

If you are thinking of coming forward and blowing the whistle on your employer or another company, please fill out the form on our Free Consultation page today! Our lawyers will evaluate your case confidentially and at no cost.

The information you submit will be kept EXTREMELY CONFIDENTIAL. We will not share your information with anyone.