Whistleblower Types

Fraud against the government can occur in nearly any industry, corporation,
government, or organization. Fortunately, individuals from many different
backgrounds can blow the whistle to help bring an end to these destructive
practices. There are many different types of whistleblowers, and laws that
specifically protect them, including:

Corporate Whistleblowers

Defense Contractor Whistleblowers

Faulty Products Whistleblowers

FCPA Whistleblowers

FDA Whistleblowers

Government Whistleblowers

Healthcare Fraud Whistleblowers

IRS Whistleblowers

Medicare Fraud Whistleblowers

Nursing Home Whistleblowers

OSHA Whistleblowers

SEC Whistleblowers

We have substantial experience in handling whistleblower lawsuits in all of these

fields, and are well-equipped to provide excellent representation in your
whistleblower claim.

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Corporate Whistleblowers

There are many actions corporate whistleblowers can help prevent, stop, or
correct. Corporate waste, fraud, abuse and corruption are problems that too
often occur even at the highest levels of corporate management. By becoming a
corporate whistleblower, you can protect hardworking taxpayers from paying the
price for corporate greed.
Common fraudulent practices within corporations include:

Fraud in the reporting of quarterly profits, or liabilities

Engaging in high-risk accounting procedures

Misleading the board of directors or shareholders

Fraud in reporting costs/expenses/corruption

Corporate waste or mismanagement

Corporate tax fraud

Corporate wage and hour abuse of its employees

If you have inside information regarding any of the above corporate practices, we
may be able to help bring these corporations to justice. Contact us for a free,
confidential evaluation.

Defense Contractor Whistleblowers

In addition to healthcare fraud, defense contracting fraud is one of the biggest

areas for False Claims Act litigation today. With the United States spending
billions of dollars to fund the War on Terror, opportunity for defense contractors
to defraud the government is high. This type of fraudulent activity not only
cheats taxpayers, but puts our troops and our security at risk.
Common fraudulent practices in defense contracting include:

Over charging

Defective pricing schemes

Substituting inferior parts

Failure to adhere to specifications, testing, or quality control procedures

Violations of Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA), which requires a contractor

to truthfully disclose all relevant costs and provide a certification to the
government

Intentionally inflating costs

Falsely accepting minority contracting set-asides

If you believe you have information evidencing defense contractor fraud, contact
us for a free, confidential evaluation.

Faulty Product Whistleblowers

It is important to hold companies accountable for producing dangerous products

or failing to p(vide adequate warnings and inf(mation regarding product use.
Blowing the whistle on faulty products helps prevent hazardous consumer goods
from harming the innocent.
The False Claims Act protects against businesses that fail to test a product as
required by government specifications or that sell defective products. The
whistleblower provision of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008
provides additional protection against retaliation from their employers when
reporting defective and hazardous consumer goods.
Common areas in which people have blown the whistle on faulty products
include:

Vehicle defects

Medical products

Construction materials

Common consumer products

Toxic exposure

Safety should never be compromised just so greedy corporations can make a

profit or avoid an expense. If you have information regarding your company or
organization failing to meet safety, quality, or other specified product standards,
we would love to work with you to help protect the public from hazardous
products.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) prevents individuals or corporations from bribing foreign
officials to assist in gaining or maintaining business. The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA
prohibit:

Making an offer

Making a payment

Promising to pay

Authorizing the payment of money or anything of value

in order to:

Influence the foreign official in his or her official capacity

Induce the foreign official to do or omit to do an act in violation of his or her lawful duty

Secure any improper advantage in obtaining or retaining business

The FCPA also contains accounting provisions designed to work in tandem with the FCPA antibribery aims. The FCPA requires corporations that file with the SEC to:

Make and keep books and records that accurately reflect transactions

Devise and maintain an adequate system of internal accounting controls

If you have information that you believe suggests any violation of the FCPA, contact us for a free
and confidential evaluation.

FDA Whistleblowers

Fraud committed by pharmaceutical companies has been a common type of False

Claim Act violation in recent years. Oftentimes, pharmaceutical companies
disregard Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations in pursuit of higher
sales.
The FDA determines which medical problems medications may be used to treat.
Uses approved by the FDA are known as the drugs label. Though doctors may
prescribe a drug for treatment of a different medical condition, known as offlabel use, pharmaceutical companies cannot legally market or promote their
drugs for any use other than that approved by the FDA.
Additionally, violations of FDA regulations can occur in-house. Bribery, bending to
political pressure, or mismanagement can all create substantial dangers to public

health or safety.
If you have information regarding fraudulent practices concerning the FDA or FDA
regulations, we can help. Contact us today for a free, confidential evaluation.

Government Whistleblowers

Just because you work for the government does not mean you do not have rights
or are not entitled to compensation. There are both federal and state laws in
place to protect and reward government workers who blow the whistle on
fraudulent practices within their organizations.
The broadest protection for government whistleblowers comes from the Civil
Service Reform Act of 1978 and the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act. To
prevent whistleblower retaliation, the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978
established the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to help eliminate fraud, waste,
abuse and unnecessary Government expenditures. Whistleblowers can file a
prohibited personnel practices (PPP) complaint with the OSC to report
wrongdoing within the government.
The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 was further strengthened by the
Whisteblower Protection Act of 1989. These Acts provide protection to
whistleblowers by:

Mandating that employees not suffer adverse consequences as a result of

PPP

Establishing the OSC to protect and act in the interest of employees who
seek assistance

Prohibiting disclosure of the identity of whistleblowers by the OSC, except

when necessary to prevent imminent danger or criminal activity

Establishing compensation for whistleblowers who win their cases to

prevent delays while appellate court reviews are pending

The OSC is involved in investigating and seeking corrective and disciplinary action
for:

activities prohibited by any civil service law, rule, or regulation

arbitrary withholding of information under the Freedom of Information

Act; and

involvement by any employee in any prohibited discrimination in the

course of any personnel action

There are many laws, both Federal and Illinois, beyond those listed that expressly
provide for whistleblower protection of some type. If you are a government
whistleblower or are considering blowing the whistle on the government, we can
help you to file an effective complaint that protects your rights as a
whistleblower, help you to receive proper representation, and protect you from
retaliation.

Healthcare Whistleblowers

Health care fraud has become one of the most common areas for False Claims Act
litigation, representing over 60% of the cases filed. Healthcare fraud can take
many different forms, with targets ranging from hospitals, pharmaceutical
manufacturers and distributors, clinical labs, insurers, and the Medicare program.
There are an immense number of fraudulent healthcare practices. Some common
fraudulent healthcare schemes include, but are not limited to:

Charging for services not provided

Claiming services provided were more intense and expensive than they
actually were (known as upcoding)

Furnishing medically unnecessary services

Lying to the government about the cost of treating Medicare and Medicaid
patients

Bribing or providing kickbacks to induce referrals

Running unnecessary lab tests

Billing at doctor rates for work that was actually conducted by a nurse or
resident intern

Prescribing a medicine or treatment in order to win kickbacks from

hospitals, labs, or pharmaceutical companies

Health insurers wrongfully discouraging high risk individuals from seeking

Medicaid coverage

Medicare fraud

(For more information on Medicare fraud, see Medicare Whistleblowers, or

fraud specifically regarding nursing home abuse, see Nursing Home
Whistleblowers.)
If you have information that suggests the practice of fraudulent healthcare
activities, contact us to set up a free and confidential consultation.

IRS Whistleblowers

The IRS deals with underpaid taxes or neglected fees owed to the government.
Modeled after the False Claims Act, the Tax Relief and Health Act of 2006
provides individuals who report companies or wealthy individuals engaged in tax
fraud the same reward as other types of whistleblower cases. Tax fraud
whistleblowers may be rewarded 15% to 30% of the amount the IRS collects as a
result of information about tax fraud provided to the IRS.
To qualify:

The tax fraud or underpayments must exceed $2 million (including tax,

penalties, and interest)

The annual income of an individual committing tax fraud must exceed

$200,000

In order to obtain a reward/full reward value, the whistleblower must not

have initiated or planned the tax fraud, and his or her allegations should
not have been previously disclosed.

Under the law, the IRS will keep the whistleblowers identity confidential. If a
reward from the IRS does not adequately recognize a whistleblowers
contribution, the whistleblower may even appeal the reward amount to the U.S.
Tax Court.
If you suspect you have information that an individual or corporation is
committing tax fraud, contact us for a free, confidential consultation.

Medicare Whistleblowers

Companies in the healthcare industry regularly submit false claims to Medicare,

making these types whistleblower lawsuits some of the most common filed under
the False Claims Act. Not only are they common, but Medicare whistleblower

cases have also resulted in some of the biggest rewards for whistleblowers.
The ways people or companies cheat Medicare are numerous, but some common
examples include:

Billing Medicare for services that are never given to patients

Up-coding, or changing the code used to bill Medicare to reflect that a

more expensive procedure was performed

Unbundling, or separating billing for multiple procedures instead of

placing them in a group with a lower rate

Billing Medicare for drugs, services or procedures that are not medically
necessary

Submitting fraudulent cost reports to Medicare to gain greater

government reimbursement

If you suspect a person or company has been committing Medicare fraud, we can
help you file a claim. Contact us today for a free, confidential consultation.

Nursing Home Whistleblowers

Oftentimes, Medicare fraud can occur in nursing homes, where patients or

caregivers are less likely to notice or report wrongdoing. Common fraudulent
activities in nursing homes may include:

Not providing healthcare, but charging for it

Neglecting to update patient care plans when called for

Overcharging or double-billing for medical care or services

Getting kickbacks for referrals to other providers or for prescribing

certain drugs

Overmedicating or undermedicating

Recommending fraudulent remedies for illnesses or other medical

conditions

Medicaid fraud

If you have information regarding nursing home fraud, it is important to speak up.
Not only do taxpayers pay the price for healthcare fraud, but our defenseless
elders should not be subjected to neglect or abuse as a means of defrauding the
government.
If you have any information about possible nursing home fraud or abuse, contact
us today for a free and confidential consultation.

OSHA Whistleblowers

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, employers have the responsibility
to:

Provide a workplace that is free from serious hazards

Follow all OSHA safety and health standards

Correct safety and health problems

Eliminate or reduce hazards by making changes in working conditions,

beyond solely relying on personal protective equipment

If you have information regarding OSHA violations in the workplace, contact us for
a free and confidential consultation.

SEC Whistleblowers

In the wake of the headlining corporate scandals of the early 2000s and the late
2000s recession, the Dodd-Frank Act was passed in 2010 to implement financial
regulatory reform. The Dodd-Frank Act contains legislation that provides for
whistleblower incentives and protection similar to the False Claims Act in regard
to the reporting of securities laws violations to the Securities Exchange
Commission (SEC). In short, the Dodd-Frank Act provides additional safeguards for
corporate whistleblowers.
Under the new law, reporting original information about a violation of securities
laws to the SEC can entitle the whistleblower to between 10% and 30% of the
monetary sanctions collected from the action. The whistleblower is also afforded
protection against retaliation, and may remain anonymous.
If you have information regarding securities law fraud, we can help. Contact us
today for a confidential consultation.

Whistleblowers Laws

Thinking about blowing the whistle on fraud? There are many different state and
federal laws offering special protections and incentives for whistleblowers. The
links below offer overviews of some prevalent whistleblower laws to help you
gain a better understanding of your rights as a whistleblower.

Whistleblower Protection Act

Whistleblower Retaliation

Federal Whistleblower Laws

State Whistleblower Laws

Bribery Act

False Claims Act

Dodd-Frank Act

Whistleblower Protection Act

The Whistleblower Protection Act prevents agencies from taking personnel

action against federal whistleblowers who work for the government. The Act
protects any government employee who comes forward with information he or
she reasonably believes evidences:

a violation of a law, rule, or regulation

gross mismanagement

gross waste of funds

an abuse of authority

or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safe

Whistleblower Retaliation Laws

Employer retaliation continues to be a major discouraging factor for would-be

whistleblowers who witness fraud or corruption within their company or
organization. Fortunately, many laws today contain provisions designed to protect
whistleblowers from being blacklisted or retaliated against in the workplace. We
have the extensive knowledge and experience with these types of cases to help
ensure our clients protection from employer retaliation.

Federal Whistleblowers Laws

Today, there are many federal laws in place to protect and encourage
whistleblowers, including:

Bribery Act

False Claims Act

Dodd-Frank Act

Whistleblower Protection Act

State Whistleblower Laws

In addition to federal whistleblower laws, the Illinois Whistleblower Act further

protects whistleblowers (including government employees) in the state of
Illinois. State Whistleblower Laws.

Bribery Act

The Bribery Act is a federal law that amends the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
(FCPA), explicitly making it illegal for a citizen or corporation of or acting within
the United States to:

influence

bribe

or seek an advantage

from a public official of another country.

False Claims Act

The False Claims Act is the oldest of the whistleblower laws. Originally enacted
by President Lincoln in 1863 to protect the Union Army from fraudulent suppliers
during the Civil War, the Act was amended in 1986 to encourage a coordinated
effort between the government and its citizens to combat fraud. Since the 1986
Amendments, the False Claims Act has become the single most successful tool in
the governments fight against fraud and abuse.
The False Claims Act includes qui tam provisions, which entitle whistleblowers
to a percentage of what the government recovers from offenders. Qui tam is a
truncated version of the Latin phrase, Qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se
ipso, which means Who sues on behalf of the King, as well as himself.
Under the 1986 amendments, qui tam whistleblowers are entitled to between
15% and 35% of the damages recovered from successful False Claims Act cases.
Oftentimes, this means substantial financial rewards for those who successfully
blow the whistle on fraud.

Dodd-Frank Act

The Dodd-Frank Act, signed into law in 2010, provides incentives and protection
to securities whistleblowers, marking an increase in protection for whistleblowers
in private companies.
The Dodd-Frank Act authorized the SEC to reward whistleblowers who provide
information regarding violations of the federal securities laws. Under the DoddFrank Act, SEC whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 10% and 30% of any
monetary penalty in excess of $1 million, as a direct result of their assistance,

cooperation and knowledge.

The Dodd-Frank Act also allows whistleblowers to anonymously file an initial
report by filing a claim through an attorney.
The Act further prohibits employers from retaliating against whistleblowers.
Employers cannot: fire, demote, suspend, threaten, harass or discriminate
against whistleblowers within their company.

Famous Whistleblowers

Many seemingly ordinary people have left a lasting mark for speaking up and
blowing the whistle on various corporate and governmental wrongs. Below is a list
of some of these courageous individuals, and a brief explanation of what they
did.

Julian Assange (WikiLeaks)

Robert Rudolph (Eli Lilly)

John Kopchinski (Pfiser)

Jeffery Wigand (Big Tobacco)

Frederic Whitehurst (FBI)

Bunnatine Greenhouse (Haliburton)

Cynthia Cooper (WorldCom)

Sherron Watkins (Enron)

Famous Whistleblower Julian Assange

Julian Assange is the founder and editor-in-chief of Wikileaks. Since 2006,

Wikileaks has published anonymous submissions of documents from
whistleblowers, including material about:

Extrajudicial killings in Kenya

Toxic waste dumping in Cte d'Ivoire

Church of Scientology manuals

Guantanamo Bay procedures

Banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer

Iraq and Afghanistan War documents about American involvement in the

wars

U.S. diplomatic cables

Assange and his Wikileaks organization helped to expose questionable activities

occurring throughout the world, thus blowing the whistle on wrongdoing and
providing information and a more transparent look at government to the public.

Famous Whistleblower Robert Rudolp

In 2009, healthcare whistleblower Robert Rudolph filed a qui tam lawsuit against
Eli Lilly for illegally marketing the drug Zyprexa for uses not approved by the FDA
notably, the treatment of dementia in the elderly. Eli Lilly pled guilty to
actively promoting Zyprexa for off-label uses. Eli Lilly was assessed the largest
criminal fine for an individual corporation in U.S. history, with Rudolph and his
fellow whistleblowers receiving 18% of the federal share of the civil settlement.

Famous Whistleblower John Kopchinski

John Kpchinski worked as a Pfizer sales representative. His 2009 qui tam lawsuit
launched a massive government investigation into Pfizers illegal and dangerous
marketing of Bextra, a prescription painkiller.
Pfizer paid $1.8 billion to the government to settle the case, including a $1.3
billion criminal fine the largest healthcare fraud settlement in U.S. history.

Famous Whistleblower Jeffery Wigand

Jeffery Wigand is the former executive of Brown & Williamson who exposed his
companys practice of intentionally manipulating the effect of nicotine in
cigarettes to the television program 60 Minutes.
Wigand is known as the man who blew the whistle on Big Tobacco, almost singlehandedly revealing the health dangers of smoking to the public.

Famous Whistleblower Frederic Whitehurst

During the 1990s, Frederic Whitehurst was a chemist and explosives residue
expert at the FBI crime lab. Whitehurst became the first modern-day FBI
whistleblower when he reported a lack of scientific standards and serious flaw in
the FBI lab that affected findings in such high-profile cases as the first World
Trade Center bombing and the Oklahoma City bombing.
Whitehursts actions triggered an overhaul of the FBIs crime lab following a
report by the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General in 1997. Today,
Whitehurst directs the FBI Oversight Project of the National Whistleblower
Center.

Famous Whistleblower Bunnatine Greenhouse

Bunnatine Greenhouse is the former chief civilian contracting officer for the
United States Army Corps of Engineers who blew the whistle on the defense
contracting company Halliburton. In 2005, Greenhouse testified before Congress,
citing specific instances of defense contracting waste, fraud, and irregularities by
Halliburton, including the corporations granting of no-bid contracts for the
reconstruction of Iraq.

Famous Whistleblower Cynthia Cooper

Cynthia Cooper is a corporate whistleblower who formerly served as the Vice

President of internal audit at WorldCom. WorldCom had been using fraudulent
accounting methods to hide its declining earnings in order to maintain the price
of its stock. In 2002, Cynthia Coopers team of internal auditors worked in secrecy
to eventually unearth $3.8 billion in accounting fraud.

Famous Whistleblower Sherron Watkins

Sherron Watkins is a corporate whistleblower, and the former Vice President of

Corporate Development at Enron who uncovered the 2001 Enron scandal.
Watkins became an internal whistleblower when she wrote a concerned internal
email message to Enron CEO Kenneth Lay discussing misstatements in financial
reports and warning him of potential whistleblowers in the company. Five months
later, the email went public, exposing Enrons illegal financial practices.
Watkins would later testify against Enron before committees of the U.S. House of
Representatives and Senate.