Whistleblowers Blog
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About the Abbott Settlement
May 8
Posted by: Reuben Guttman & Traci Buschner | Number of Comments: Be the first to Comment
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
By Reuben Guttman and Traci Buschner
We were proud to have represented the lead whistleblower in Abbott’s 1.6 billion dollar settlement with the government which resolved claims involving the drug Depakote.
Whistleblowers can make a difference and this settlement is one example of how one individual can take action that will change the conduct of a pharmaceutical giant….
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Is Apple Serious?
Apr 2
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Monday, April 2nd, 2012
After years of representing to shareholders that it properly monitors its supply chain for compliance with foreign laws, Apple now admits a serious history of derelictions.
CEO Tim Cook, whose 2011 income of about 300 million dollars is likely more than what Apple’s China based I-pod workforce makes in a year, says he wants to clean things up. He says he understands what it is like to work in a factory because of his working class Alabama roots. Really?
Apple engaged the Fair Labor Association to monitor its supply chain and the FLA f…
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Did Fed Ex Get a Deal?
Mar 22
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
It turns out that Fed Ex will pay a sum of less than 5 million dollars to settle allegations of pervasive employment discrimination. The settlement was announced by the Department of Labor and touted as a victory. But is it really? Seriously?
The DOL investigation surfaced allegations impacting several thousand employees. For a mulit-billion dollar company this seems like a small fee to pay where there may have been thousands of job applicants who were not given a fair opportunity.
Now it is Congress’ turn to ask some hard questions ab…
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Civil Penalties on Trial?
Feb 16
Posted by: Reuben Guttman & Traci Buschner | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Thursday, February 16th, 2012
On Valentine’s Day, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued an opinion in a False Claims Act case, U.S. ex rel. Bunk v. The Pasha Group et al. denying a request to impose civil penalties upon a Defendant that had been found to violate the False Claims Act.
The Bunk case involved Government contracts for the transportation of military household goods owned by U.S. military personnel and their families moving between the U.S. and numerous European cities. Because of the magnitude of money involved — at…
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Shovel Ready Government Contracts Need Whistleblowers
Dec 27
Posted by: Staff | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
Early this year, the fate of a government shut down teetered as legislators on Capitol Hill huddled over efforts to find an extra 30 billion dollars. Now, as the year ends and lawmakers are still squabbling over ways to balance the budget, an investigation launched by 22 newspapers seems to indicate that the government may have mismanaged billions of dollars in federal highway monies.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the federal government spent more than 40 billion dollars in fiscal…
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FCPA’s Broad Reach
Nov 1
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
In Dubai, where I am at the moment, it is hard not to notice the presence of US multi-nationals and expatriates. Ahead of me in line at customs were employees of DynCorp working on a logistics project for the US military in the Persian Gulf. An advertisement for General Electric and its salinization project are a reminder of the role of US companies abroad. And of course, the world’s tallest building here at 170 stories was designed by US firms.
How do we accomplish our goal of keeping US companies honest when they are transacting …
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Missing an Opportunity to Protect Patients and Save Dollars
Oct 19
Posted by: Staff | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
In the wake of pharmaceutical companies paying large sums of money to settle allegations of illegal kickbacks to doctors, the Physicians Payment Sunshine Provision or the “Disclosure Law” provides the transparency necessary to reduce improper behavior. Unfortunately, the Center’s for Medicare & Medicaid Services missed the October 1, 2011 deadline for implementing this law, ignoring the consequences inherent in allowing drug and device companies to compromise the objectivity of our nation’s doctors.
Below is a link to an article writ…
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Guideline Writers and Conflicts of Interests: Q & A Session with Dr. Caroline Poplin
Oct 18
Posted by: Staff | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
In light of the article “Guideline Writers Often Don’t Mention Conflicts of Interest,” which recently appeared in Medpage Today, we sat down with Dr. Caroline Poplin for a Q and A session, to learn about medical guidelines and those who write them.
The Medpage Today article raises the question of independence and objectivity in the guideline development process, given that many of the physicians who write guidelines have financial conflicts of interest—they receive (often substantial) amounts of money fr…
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A Message For The Press and For Those “Occupying Wall Street”
Oct 10
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Monday, October 10th, 2011
For those who are “Occupying Wall Street” and are complaining about how big corporations are treated with favoritism, here are questions to ask your Congressman:
1. Why does the United States Government almost unconditionally continue to do business with corporations that have been successfully prosecuted for cheating the Government or for violating the False Claims Act?
2. Why does the United States Government settle False Claims Cases with the pharmaceutical industry with corporate integrity agreements that continue to allow the culprit…
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Did False Claims Cause the Government to Guarantee a Loan to Solyndra?
Oct 5
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
The Department of Energy authorized a loan guarantee of $535 million to California solar panel maker Solyndra, LLC. So high was the White House on this venture that President Obama visited the company in 2010. Now, Solyndra is in bankruptcy and undoubtedly the Government will be out at least a few hundred million dollars if not more.
Clearly, this is not the kind of “change” one finds by searching under sofa cushions. Placed in context, last winter our Government almost shut down when Congress was debating $30 billion in budget cuts. With bu…