Whistleblowers Blog
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Pharmaceutical Companies and Non-Profits: A New Frontier of Pharmaceutical Marketing
Jan 31
Posted by: David Fischer | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Thursday, January 31st, 2013
Pharmaceutical companies which face tightening restrictions on their ability to market their products are evading these restrictions by using non-profit and charitable organizations. The January 31, 2012 New York Times reports on NPS Pharmaceuticals’ use of non-profit organization of patients to promote its product:
Over the last two years, NPS has carefully tended its relationship with Mr. Jablonski, helping to finance his nonprofit, the Short Bowel Syndrome Foundation, and flying company leaders to visit him in Lincoln. On Jan. 15, he me… -
Doping and how we play the game
Jan 26
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Saturday, January 26th, 2013
Now that Lance Armstrong has admitted that he doped, fans across the globe must be wondering what was he thinking? Perhaps he surmised that breaking anti-doping rules is just a part of the game.
One thing that Lance Armstrong probably did not anticipate was a Federal statute known as the False Claims Act which encourages private citizen whistleblowers with monetary bounties when their efforts are successful. Undoubtedly, he also did not anticipate that his own teammate, Floyd Landis, would sue him under that statute as we now know because …
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Judging the judges
Jan 26
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Saturday, January 26th, 2013
As Barack Obama kicks off his second presidential term, US lawyers will be anxiously gauging his approach to Supreme Court bench appointments.
On the anniversary of the birth of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term as US President. His inauguration speech made a case for a strong middle class protected by the rule of law including proscription against discrimination based on race, gender, national origin or sexual orientation. Mr. Obama stressed the importance of regulation to protect the f…
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It shouldn’t be about the bounty
Jan 2
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: 1 Comment
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013
Whistleblowers have bagged US federal authorities a pile of recovered cash this year – and themselves some big reward money. But Reuben Guttman’s hero is a man who received not a penny of bounty.
Depending on how you count it, the US government recovered more than $6 billion in 2012 as a result of whistleblowers crying foul. Enticing them to pucker up are laws paying bounties to those who report wrongdoing that cheats the government out of tax dollars, violates federal securities laws, or leads to the wrongful payment of monies that …
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Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Dec 7
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Friday, December 7th, 2012
Marvin Miller, the one-time Steelworkers Union economist and the man behind the modern baseball player’s union — and perhaps indirectly all North American professional athletes’ unions — died last month aged 95.
In 1966, Mr. Miller went to work as the executive director of a fledgling Major League Baseball players’ association, which, over the course of two decades, he transformed into a powerhouse of a real labour union.
Sometime ago, I was at a dinner with Dick Moss, the association’s general counsel that Martin Miller brought w…
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What it means to be a whistleblower
Nov 26
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Monday, November 26th, 2012
Individuals blowing the whistle can receive millions of dollars for their information but is this the motivation?
2012 can be looked upon as the year of the whistleblower as the US government was on a trajectory to collect more than US$5 billion from cases that were initiated by private citizens. “With the growth of multi-nationals, cross-border enforcement, complex financial products and the recent economic crisis, whistleblowing has become an integral part of compliance enforcement in the US,” said Jerry Martin, the US Attorney for the…
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Guardians of the People
Nov 15
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Thursday, November 15th, 2012
As a UK gas costs fall under the spotlight for alleged price-fixing, Reuben Guttman makes the case for whistleblowers.
NEW YORK – A revival of Ibsen’s 1882 play, An Enemy of the People, is currently running on Broadway. The drama tells the story of a doctor who blows the whistle on a Norwegian town’s bathhouse because it draws contaminated water from a local tannery.
Ibsen does not use the modern expression ‘whistleblower’, but that term accurately describes the play’s protagonist, Dr. Stockman, the bathhouse medical director, who…
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Doing the right thing
Oct 5
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Friday, October 5th, 2012
Are global corporations under just a moral obligation rather than a legal duty to behave responsibly around the world? See Reuben Guttman’s October 5, 2012 blog in The European Lawyer.
DUBLIN – As the annual conference of the International Bar Association moved into its final stages, lawyers wrestled with the vexed issue of whether being environmentally conscious and treating workers fairly are not just matters of moral responsibility, but also a legal obligation.
For multi-nationals incorporated in the US, at least some aspects of co… -
Professional melting pot
Oct 3
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012
The International Bar Association has a well-deserved reputation for partying hard at its annual bash, but, says Reuben Guttman, its multinational delegates also tackle crucial issues of legal practice around the world. See Reuben Guttman’s October 3, 2012 blog in The European Lawyer.
http://www.globallegalpost.com/blogs/commentary/professional-melting-pot-87309557/…
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Puckering Up
Oct 2
Posted by: Reuben Guttman | Number of Comments: Comments Off
Category: Whistleblowers Blog | Date Posted: Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012
“Whether to blow or not to blow – that intriguing issue triggered heated debate at a session on criminal fraud and the global economic recession at this week’s International Bar Association annual meeting” in Dublin, Ireland Reuben Guttman reports. See his October 2, 2012 blog in The European Lawyer.
Should the US practice of paying bounties to whistleblowers be adopted by other countries?
Currently three US laws provide for bounties to be paid to individuals or entities providing information leading to the recovery of government …