Whistleblower Law Collaborative Blog and News

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By: Whistleblower Law Collaborative, LLC

Blog Authors

Erica Blachman Hitchings
Bruce C. Judge
Linda C. Severin
Suzanne E. Durrell
Erica Hitchings
Alex Maulden
Alexandra Maulden
Robert Thomas
Robert M. Thomas Jr.
David W.S. Lieberman
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Latest from Whistleblower Law Collaborative Blog and News

The pharmaceutical company Indivior Solutions agreed to pay a total of $600 million to resolve opioid fraud charges involving the marketing its drug Suboxone.  Indivior’s parent company, Reckitt Benckiser Group, already agreed to pay $1.4 billion for the same fraud.   The $2 billion recovery is the largest-ever resolution in an opioid fraud case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. Indivior’s Outrageous Conduct Even by the standards of big pharma fraud, this case stands out. …
After a decade of teaching the popular Health Care Fraud and Abuse seminar at Boston University Law School, Whistleblower Law Collaborative LLC (“WLC”) Co-Founder Bob Thomas has started an additional seminar this fall, called Whistleblower Law and Practice.  Due to the pandemic, the course is offered in hybrid format (some students live and some on ZOOM).    While there is some overlap with the Health Care Fraud and Abuse course (now taught by…
David Lieberman and Bruce Judge discussed the scourge of compounding fraud in New Jersey with The Press of Atlantic City.  The article, South Jersey prescription fraud ring follows national playbook, concerns a compounding fraud scheme targeting New Jersey state employees. We have reported on and discussed compounding fraud schemes several times on this blog. David and Bruce spoke with Press of Atlantic City staff writer Claire Lowe providing national context regarding the New Jersey…
Ethan P. Davis, the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for DOJ’s Civil Division recently described how the Civil Division will approach COVID-19 fraud enforcement. His remarks follow Senate testimony in early June by DOJ officials on the early battles against COVID-19 fraud. Mr. Davis’ extensive remarks focused on fraud in COVID-19 financial stimulus programs as well as fraud involving tests, treatments, and vaccines. Two General Principles Will Guide DOJ’s COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Efforts Mr. Davis…
The Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office recently filed a health care fraud lawsuit against drug manufacturer Teva Pharmaceuticals (specifically, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., and Teva Neuroscience, Inc.).  The United States’ False Claims Act complaint alleges that Teva illegally paid over $300 million to induce prescriptions of its drug Copaxone.  The alleged scheme ran for at least nine years and involved payments to third-party foundations to cover the Medicare co-pay obligations of Copaxone patients.  As we have…
The First Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the criminal conviction of a Massachusetts doctor for violating HIPAA. As we have previously written in our Whistleblowers Guide to HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) establishes privacy protections for patients’ health information. “Protected health information,” or PHI, is patient-identifying information protected under HIPAA. Federal law prohibits wrongfully obtaining or disclosing PHI. Doing so is a crime. Doctor Violated HIPAA and…
Whistleblower Law Collaborative Co-Founder Bob Thomas was one of the co-hosts of July 30 event featuring highly informative and lively discussion of DOJ enforcement priorities during the COVID Pandemic. The other co-hosts were Kirsten Mayer of Ropes & Gray and Patricia Peláez of Charles River Associates. The online discussion, sponsored by the American Bar Association, was attended by well over 200 attendees from both the public and private sectors. The government participants discussing Covid enforcement…
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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or HIPAA establishes privacy and security standards for health care providers and other covered entities. These standards prevent the release of patient identifying information. Understanding HIPAA is important to a whistleblower. Whistleblowers need to know what information HIPPA protects from publication.  This is because defendants often accuse whistleblowers of violating HIPAA when they report fraud.  Therefore, understanding how to comply with HIPAA and its safe harbors, can…
Whistleblower Law Collaborative Co-Founder and Managing Partner Suzanne Durrell was featured in the latest issue of Corporate Crime Reporter.  Her interview covers her newly announced Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund national COVID-19 Anti-Fraud Task Force. In the race to find a cure, the government is engaging in a public/private partnership with industry. Our bar is concerned that we are going to need a vast public/private partnership as well with whistleblowers and attorneys to keep…
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DOJ announced that CWD Holdings LLC, an auto brakes importer, agreed to pay $8 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by committing customs fraud.  According to the government, CWD falsely claimed its product was unmounted brake pads, which have no customs duty.  In fact, CWD imported mounted brake pads subject to a 2.5% customs duty. CWD Engaged in Customs Fraud Through Misclassification CWD falsely described its brake pads as…