New Jersey Appeals Court Gives State Larger Chunk of Whistleblower Awards

A whistleblower who was awarded $1.2 million in a False Claims Act suit must pay state taxes on the entire amount of the award, even if the amount paid in legal fees and portions of the proceeds were shared with other relators, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Thursday. Anthony Kite, who filed a whistleblower suit accusing several hospitals of overbilling Medicare by as much as 400 percent, was...
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Former Cardiovascular Systems Inc. Employee Awarded $25 million in Whistleblower Lawsuit

A Los Angeles jury has awarded more than $25 million to a whistleblower who was fired for reporting what he considered illegal sales tactics and surgeon kickbacks by a Minnesota medical device company. Steven Babyak won his lawsuit against former employer, St. Paul-based Cardiovascular Systems Inc., for both whistleblower retaliation and wrongful termination in Los Angeles Superior Court. The j...
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$5.4 Million Awarded to Former Wells Fargo Manager Whistleblower

A federal regulator on Monday ordered Wells Fargo to pay $5.4 million to a former manager who said he was fired in 2010 after reporting to his supervisors and to a bank ethics hotline what he suspected was fraudulent behavior. The bank must also rehire him, the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said. The $5.4 million, intended to cover back pay, compensator...
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$1.4 Million Settlement from SandRidge Energy for Retaliating Against Internal Whistleblower

An oil-and-gas company that allegedly retaliated against an internal whistleblower and used illegal separation agreements agreed to pay the SEC a $1.4 million penalty. Oklahoma-based SandRidge Energy Inc. fired an employee who raised concerns inside the company about how it calculated its publicly reported oil-and-gas reserves. SandRidge then put language in the employee’s separation agree...
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Turnpike agency to pay ex-worker $3.2M in whistleblower suit

judge has ordered the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to pay a former worker more than $3 million after finding he was wrongly fired in retaliation for blowing the whistle on agency practices. Ralph Bailets sued the turnpike commission and two of its officials over his 2008 termination. He says he was dismissed for questioning a major computer contract, hiring practices and how large trucki...
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Former N.C. Trooper Wins $3.75M Verdict in Whistleblower Case

Reginald Newberne, a former N.C. State Highway Patrolman who claims he was fired because he reported on the alleged misconduct of a fellow trooper, tried to maintain his composure Wednesday as a Wake County jury delivered its verdict in his whistleblower case. The seven women and five men had been in deliberations since Monday, weighing Newberne’s claims that he was fired from the Highway Patro...
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Whistleblowers Nail Shell Oil Over False California Environmental Cleanup Claims

Nailed by a private whistleblower over false claims, Shell Oil Co. has forfeited a chance to collect up to $150 million from a state-run fund that reimburses oil companies for cleaning up leaking underground storage tanks. Besides losing out on the potential reimbursements, Shell will pay $20 million in penalties under a settlement announced Friday by California officials, bringing the total cost...
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Monsanto Whistleblower Receives $22.5M

Monsanto Whistleblower Receives $22.5M
A former Monsanto Co. financial executive who tipped off regulators about the agribusiness giant’s accounting practices involving rebates for its Roundup weed-killer will get nearly $22.5 million as a whistleblower, federal securities regulators announced Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016 KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former Monsanto Co. financial executive who tipped off regulators about the agribusiness giant’...
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IRS Rewards For Tax Whistleblowers

The Tax Court yesterday in a key case (Whistleblower 21276-13W v. CIRPY +% – 147 TC 4) held that IRS whistleblowers can get awards not only in situations where taxes are collected under Title 26 but also when the taxpayer pays criminal fines and civil forfeitures.   Great news not just for the whistleblowers involved in this case (and for me as well — as the whistleblowers’ lead attorney in this...
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$663 Million in Penalties for Maker of Guardrail

A Texas federal judge handed down a $663 million judgment Tuesday against Trinity Industries, the guardrail maker accused of producing a faulty product that can jam and spear through vehicles. The judgment stems from the trial held last year in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by Josh Harman, a competitor who discovered in 2011 that Trinity had made a critical change to the dimensions of its ET-P...
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