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With the federal government settling its claim against disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong today, clients are asking about his former teammate, Floyd Landis receiving $1.1 million dollars as a whistleblower.  Clients have asked me if this is a new law or process. On the contrary, President Abraham Lincoln created the False Claims Act during the Civil War in an attempt to incentivize whistleblowing against war profiteers who sought to defraud the government.  Under the False Claims Act, the government can attain treble damages against the person or corporation committing fraud in the pursuit of a government contract, meaning the penalty is three times the fraud itself. A whistleblower, the person who alerts the government to the fraud under the False Claims Act, is entitle to 15% to 30% of the government’s recovery. Given that government contracts are frequently many millions of dollars, the rewards for whistleblowers can be sizable.

The Challenges of Being a Whistleblower Under the False Claims Act

Many people walk into my office excited at the prospect of being a False Claims Act whistleblower.  But being a whistleblower is scary—it can be terrifying to become aware of fraud, especially when you are reporting fraud by your coworkers or those within your corporation. Choosing to expose that misconduct and to become a whistleblower means risking your livelihood, friendship with colleagues, and financial security. Once you become a whistleblower and an investigation into the fraud commences, there is a serious chance that you will feel the wrath of those you have exposed. Loss of employment, punitive or disciplinary action, and defamation are just some of the forms of retaliation that whistleblowers sometimes experience.

What are the Types of Fraud the False Claims Act Covers?

Clients often ask me what constitutes fraud under the False Claims Act? Fraud can take several forms. Imagine that your company contracts to supply car tires to the Army at a certain specification of resilience and puncture resistance. If your company sell the government knock-off versions of the promised tire, that is fraud. In that example, your company is promising one thing to the government and providing a substandard product at the same price.

Yet another type of fraud involves qualifications; many types of government contracts either require that the contractor has certain qualifications and certifications or that it meet certain demographic qualifications such as being minority or woman owned.  In this type of fraud, a whistleblower may not be claiming that the product or service sold to the government was shoddy, but that the corporation involved in the transaction actually had no business entering into it.

Similarly, bribery is another type of fraud.  If your company bribes government officials in an effort to obtain a government contract, it is violating the False Claims Act.  For the same reason as stated above, your company is entering a contract with the government that it has no right to.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Do you have knowledge of fraud or other serious financial misconduct occurring in the context of your employment? Are you considering filing a whistleblower case? To protect your career and family and to attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney. First, you need confidential advice regarding whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud and whether you are in a position to receive compensation based on a whistleblower tip. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive. Because whistleblower programs receive thousands of tips each year, they can only act on a small percentage. If you are going to risk your career, you want to make your work count.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be a whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgement and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Explains Lance Armstrong’s Corruption Exposed by a Whistleblower

As a whistleblower attorney, I am used to reading about cases where the settlement amount—sometimes an eight digit number—is the what is noteworthy about the case. Today’s settlement of the Lance Armstrong doping fraud case is not huge—he has to pay a $5 million dollar settlement—but his larger than life profile makes for a great False Claims Act example. Under the False Claims Act, the government can attain treble damages against the person or corporation committing fraud in the pursuit of a government contract, meaning the penalty is three times the fraud itself. A whistleblower, the person who alerts the government to the fraud under the False Claims Act, is entitle to 15% to 30% of the government’s recovery. Given that government contracts are frequently many millions of dollars, the rewards for whistleblowers can be sizable.

How Did Lance Armstrong’s Actions Violate the False Claims Act?

Fraud can take several forms. The form at issue in the Lance Armstrong case involved qualification to contract with the government. Many types of government contracts require that the contractor has certain qualifications and certifications. In some contracts, the contractor must meet certain demographic qualifications such as being minority or woman owned. Here, Lance Armstrong defrauded the government by indicating that he was not taking performance enhancing drugs when the government—the U.S. Post Office—contracted to sponsor his team .  In essence, he was just like any other fraudulent contractor who promises the government a certain product, here drug free cycling victories, and actually provides something of less value.

The whistleblower in this case, Armstrong’s teammate Floyd Landis, exposed Armstrong’s cheating. As a result, he receives $1.1 million of the $5 million dollars that the government recovered, along with $1.67 million dollars in legal fees.

Because this settlement under the False Claims Act is so newsworthy, I thought I’d provide the following National Public Radio article that describes it in a bit more depth.  The entire article can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.

Lance Armstrong To Pay U.S. Government $5 Million To Settle Fraud Claims

Lance Armstrong has agreed to pay the federal government $5 million to settle fraud allegations that could have resulted in a nearly $100 million penalty. The U.S. Postal Service, which had sponsored the disgraced cyclist’s team, argued that Armstrong defrauded taxpayers by accepting millions from the government agency while using performance-enhancing drugs during competition.

“A competitor who intentionally uses illegal PEDs not only deceives fellow competitors and fans, but also sponsors, who help make sporting competitions possible,” Chad Reader, acting attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement. “This settlement demonstrates that those who cheat the government will be held accountable.”

During his time cycling, Armstrong famously won a record seven consecutive Tour de France titles after recovering from testicular cancer, six of which he won as a member of the USPS-sponsored team.

But he was dogged by suspicions of doping throughout his career — including from his former teammate, Floyd Landis, who sued him in 2010 under the False Claims Act. As Reuters explains, the federal law “lets whistle-blowers pursue fraud cases on behalf of the government, and obtain rewards if successful.”

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Do you have knowledge of fraud or other serious financial misconduct occurring in the context of government contracting? Are you considering filing a whistleblower case? To protect your career and family and to attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney. Because whistleblower programs receive thousands of tips each year, they can only act on a small percentage. If you are going to risk your career, you want to make your work count.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be a whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgement and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

Source:            https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/19/604125474/lance-armstrong-to-pay-u-s-government-5-million-to-settle-fraud-claims

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Provides Example of the Possible Rewards of Insurance Industry Employees Participation in the IRS Whistleblower Program

One thing is certain—if there is money in an enterprise, fraud will follow. That is certainly true in the insurance industry, where increased regulation under the Affordable Care Act has tightened insurance companies’ bottom lines. And if there is fraud, there is an opportunity for whistleblowers to expose it, which comes with tremendous risk and tremendous potential reward. Choosing to expose that fraud and become a whistleblower means risking your livelihood, friendship with colleagues, and financial security.

But with risk comes reward. The following April 17, 2018 article excerpts demonstrate the potential reward of whistleblowing, so I thought it would be interesting to those considering becoming a whistleblower. The whistleblower in this health insurance case exposed $89 million dollars in unpaid federal taxes. If his case is successfully prosecuted by the U.S. government, he would be due 30 percent of that amount or $26.7 million dollars under the IRS Whistleblower Program. I have linked to the entire article at the end of this blog post and encourage you to read it.

California Insurer Faces Whistleblower Complaint Over Health Law Taxes

A federal whistleblower complaint alleges that a major California insurer failed to pay an estimated $89 million in taxes on premium revenue as required under the Affordable Care Act.

The complaint against Blue Shield of California focuses on the taxation of certain health plans that are funded by both an employer and insurer. It could spark more scrutiny by federal officials into whether all insurers are paying their fair share of taxes on premiums.

The ACA’s health insurance tax is one of several fees designed to help fund the health law. Employers’ self-funded plans are exempt from this ACA tax. But traditional plans, in which health insurers are fully responsible for paying medical claims in exchange for premiums, are subject to the tax.

At issue in this case is whether Blue Shield should have paid ACA taxes on hybrid, or “flex-funded,” plans, in which employers pay claims out of their own pocket up to a point and the insurance company covers the rest. Such plans account for a modest share of the insurance market.

The whistleblower in the Blue Shield complaint is Michael Johnson, a public policy director at the company until 2015, when he left and became an outspoken critic of the company.

“Blue Shield appears to have skipped out on $89 million in health reform taxes in 2016, and it’s poised to do the same every year going forward,” Johnson said.

In July 2016, the San Francisco-based insurer made a significant change to its annual tax filing required by the ACA, federal records show. Blue Shield amended its initial filing from three months earlier and made a 25 percent reduction in its reported premiums, or $3.1 billion less.

Johnson cited those public Internal Revenue Service filings and other information he learned as a Blue Shield employee in his Jan. 30 whistleblower complaint. He shared parts of his complaint with California Healthline.

Johnson worked at Blue Shield for 12 years before leaving in March 2015. Soon after, he launched a public campaign against Blue Shield, accusing the nonprofit of shortchanging the public by operating too much like its for-profit competitors. Blue Shield sued Johnson in 2015 for breach of contract, accusing him of disclosing confidential company information. Johnson is seeking to have the case dismissed in state court.

The IRS Whistleblower Office acknowledged receipt of Johnson’s complaint in a Feb. 22 letter and said “we will evaluate the information you provided to determine if an investigation is warranted and an award is appropriate.”

If the IRS uses the information provided by a whistleblower, it can award the person up to 30 percent of the additional taxes and penalties collected. A spokesman for the IRS declined to comment further, saying the agency can’t discuss specific cases.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Are you considering filing a whistleblower case? To attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney to decide whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be a whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgement and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

Sources: https://californiahealthline.org/news/california-insurer-faces-whistleblower-complaint-over-health-law-taxes/

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Explains U.S. Corporations’ Increased Whistleblower Retaliation Statistics

Being a whistleblower is scary enough—it can be terrifying to become aware of fraud, especially when you are reporting fraud by your coworkers or those within your corporation. Choosing to expose that misconduct and to become a whistleblower means risking your livelihood, friendship with colleagues, and financial security. Once you become a whistleblower and an investigation into the fraud commences, there is a serious chance that you will feel the wrath of those you have exposed. Loss of employment, punitive or disciplinary action, and defamation are just some of the forms of retaliation that whistleblowers sometimes experience. Unfortunately, clients often come to me asking if they can be an “anonymous” whistleblower. In the short term, the answer may be yes. However, if your matter goes to investigation and prosecution, your employer will eventually know your identity.

It looks like times are getting even tougher for whistleblowers. A recent Wall Street Journal report based on a survey by the Ethics & Compliance Initiative indicates that retaliation against whistleblowers is rising, and the increase is dramatic. Since 2013, the rate of whistleblowers reporting misconduct has increased 5%; however, the rate of retaliation against whistleblowers doubled, or rose by 100%, in that same time.

As employees know, a company can have prohibitions and policies against retaliation, but they may have little or no effect unless the company’s leadership supports an ethical culture where those policies are taken seriously and enforced. Without that enforcement, retaliation can go on either subtle or explicit ways, which has a chilling effect on other employees’ future reporting. When employees see unethical behavior go unpunished or, worse, rewarded, the company is communicating that its policies are simply “lip service” to appease auditors and ethics watchdogs. Other employees witness the negative ramifications of whistleblowing and learn to keep their head down and mouth shut. Over time, this process repeats itself and the company’s culture of ethics erodes dramatically.

While there is plenty of troubling news in the Ethics & Compliance Initiative report, the news was not all bad. It also reported that there are some companies that are “creating cultures their employees think are strong and grounded in good values. About 21% said they work at a company with a strong culture, up from 18% in 2013.” Thus, approximately one fifth of employees feel that they are working for a company that takes ethics seriously. That is still far too low, but may be a glimmer of hope.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Do you have knowledge of fraud or other serious financial misconduct occurring in the context of your employment? Are you considering filing a whistleblower case? To protect your career and family and to attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney. First, you need confidential advice regarding whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud and whether you are in a position to receive compensation based on a whistleblower tip. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive. Because whistleblower programs receive thousands of tips each year, they can only act on a small percentage. If you are going to risk your career, you want to make your work count.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be a whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgment and losing your career and livelihood. Call our seasoned Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer today to learn more about how he can make a difference for you.

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Explains Recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Decision Regarding the U.S. Merit System Personnel Board Whistleblower Program

It can be terrifying to become aware of fraud, especially when you are a federal civil servant who chose to work to help your fellow citizens. Choosing to expose that fraud and become a civil service whistleblower means risking your livelihood, friendship with colleagues, and financial security. Once you become a whistleblower and an investigation into the fraud commences, there is a serious chance that you will feel the wrath of those you have exposed. Loss of employment, punitive or disciplinary action, and defamation are just some of the forms of retaliation that whistleblowers sometimes experience.

Mississippi clients who are thinking of becoming civil service whistleblowers often ask about the retaliation. Luckily, the U.S. Merit System Personnel Board Whistleblower Program (MSPB) offers protections to those who expose waste, fraud, and abuse.  The following is from the MSPB whistleblower web site:

How does the MSPB protect whistleblowers?

Unlike many of the Merit System Principles, for which there is no specific law or regulation that allows an affected employee to appeal a violation, MSPB can order an agency to take corrective action for whistleblower retaliation. This would require an agency to place the whistleblower, as nearly as possible, in the position the individual would have been in had the prohibited personnel practice not occurred. The MSPB can even award the whistleblower back pay and certain reasonable and foreseeable consequential damages such as medical costs and travel expenses.  In some cases, it may also award attorney fees. More recently, with the enactment of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012, the board was also authorized to award compensatory damages.

Accordingly, there are protections in place for civil servants who report fraud, waste, and abuse; however, those protections are only as good as those charged with enforcing them.

Ant-Retaliation Protection Takes Effect Upon Submission of a Claim

The anti-retaliatory protections of the MSPB whistleblower program should take effect as soon as you file a whistleblower claim.  It should not matter whether the MSPB ever investigates   or acts on the complaint.  However, once again, it is crucial that you submit your claim to the MSPB properly and on the correct forms.  Having experienced whistleblower counsel by your side to make that filing and ensure that the anti-retaliation protection kicks in is vital to protecting your livelihood.

The following recent decision out of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals details how a whistleblower went unprotected, in part because his or her claim was not filed to the MSPB’s specifications.

Cautionary Tale of Whistleblower Retaliation

A federal appeals court has found that the MSPB took too narrow a view of whistleblower protections, agreeing with the Office of Special Counsel that an employee does not need to provide “precise” details of a claim in order to pursue a complaint of retaliation.

The case involved an employee who contended that he was fired in reprisal for his disclosures to his agency and its IG office regarding nepotism. However, the MSPB held that he had not informed the OSC of the details of those disclosures and thus had not exhausted his “administrative remedies” there, as required before filing a complaint directly with the MSPB. When he appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the OSC intervened on his side, arguing that the merit board had created a procedural hurdle for whistleblowers not in the law.

The court agreed, finding that the employee had provided the OSC with sufficiently detailed and clear notice” of the whistleblower retaliation claim to investigate. The court sent the case back to the MSPB to decide.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Are you considering filing a whistleblower case? To attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney to decide whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be a whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgment and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Advises: What Are the Protections Offered by the SEC Whistleblower Program?

It can be terrifying to become aware of fraud within the corporation that employs you. Choosing to expose that fraud and become a whistleblower means risking your livelihood, friendship with colleagues, and financial security. Once you become a whistleblower and an investigation into the fraud commences, there is a serious chance that you will feel the wrath of those you have exposed. Loss of employment, punitive or disciplinary action, and defamation are just some of the forms of retaliation that whistleblowers sometimes experience. Luckily, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Whistleblower Program has anti-retaliation protections in place.

Clients who are thinking of becoming whistleblowers often ask about the anti-retaliation provisions of the SEC’s program, so I have described them fully below:

Potential vs. Proven Securities Fraud

The SEC receives many, many whistleblower claims for every one that ends up being investigated and prosecuted. In the end, a small fraction of whistleblowers’ reports of securities fraud actually result in a rewards. Thus, if only those whistleblower’s whose cases that resulted in a successful prosecution received anti-retaliation protection, then there could be a significant chilling effect on reporting in general. Luckily, that is not the way it works, and as long as you are making a good faith report of “potential” securities fraud on the appropriate forms to the SEC, you receive anti-retaliation protection.

An Example of Retaliation and Its Consequences

In the Matter of Paradigm Capital Management, Inc. and Candace King Weir, File No. 3-15930 (June 16, 2014), provides an excellent example of what can happen in an SEC whistleblower case as described in the SEC’s press release:

The whistleblower in this matter suffered unique hardships, including retaliation, as a result of reporting to the Commission.

The SEC charged Paradigm with retaliating against the whistleblower after the firm learned that the whistleblower reported potential misconduct to the Commission.  Paradigm immediately engaged in a series of retaliatory actions against the whistleblower including removing the whistleblower from the whistleblower’s then-current position, tasking the whistleblower with investigating the very conduct the whistleblower reported to the SEC, changing the whistleblower’s job function, stripping the whistleblower of supervisory responsibilities, and otherwise marginalizing the whistleblower.

The whistleblower will receive over $600,000 for providing key original information that led to the successful SEC enforcement action.

Ant-Retaliation Protection Takes Effect Upon Submission of a Claim to the SEC

The anti-retaliatory protections of the SEC Whistleblower Program take effect as soon as the whistleblower claim is filed.  It does not matter whether the SEC ever investigates  or acts on the complaint whatsoever.  However, once again, it is crucial that you submit your claim to the SEC properly and on the correct forms.  Having experienced whistleblower counsel by your side to make that filing and ensure that the anti-retaliation protection kicks in is vital to protecting your livelihood.

What If I Don’t Qualify for an Award, But Want Retaliation Protection?

It is not settled where the line is between who can be a whistleblower to the SEC—not everyone can be—and who can receive whistleblower protection. As you can imagine, there is a large group of people who are not eligible for whistleblower protections, including some auditors, attorneys, and senior leadership. But while this group may not qualify for an award, they may still be eligible for anti-retaliation protection if they bring securities fraud within their corporation to the SEC’s attention.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Are you considering filing an SEC whistleblower case? To attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney to decide whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be an SEC whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgment and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Advises: What Does the Future for Cryptocurrency Whistleblowers?

With the amount of press around Bitcoin’s meteoric rise and subsequent plummet, my future-looking clients here in Mississippi have asked me whether these “cryptocurrencies’” are subject to the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) whistleblower program. The answer is that they may be. The SEC stated in a July 2017 investigative report that “virtual tokens and coins may be securities subject to federal securities laws.” What that means is that fraud occurring in the context of initial coin offerings (“ICOs”) or other aspects of the creation or management of crypto currencies may be subject to the SEC’s whistleblower program.

A New Form of Money: Blockchain Technology

To understand how a whistleblower action might be brought in relation to a cryptocurrency ICO, you first must understand a bit about how cryptocurrencies work. Unlike traditional currencies that are created or “minted” by a country and are tied to some national monetary policy, cryptocurrencies are secured by blockchain technology. The security of the blockchain is their foundation and is what gives them worth.

But what is blockchain? Blockchains are a secure, electronic way of recording individual transactions. Each block in a chain contains data about a transaction between individuals—every transaction, in turn, is recorded and reflects the previous transactions that came before. The foundation of blockchain technology is the “linked’ nature of a chain.  That linked nature creates a more secure environment for transactions, as it is not possible to change the records pertaining to a block, or record, in the extensive list of records without also altering all of the previous blocks. The blocks, in turn, are stored across a network of computers so that any change to the blocks would require complete coordination of those computers. This level of complexity also provides security. In the past, the strength of nations and their central banks acted as the foundation of a currency, now it is the strength of a currency’s computing capacity and mathematics.

Whistleblowers’ Roles in Blockchain ICO’s

Because of the somewhat mysterious nature of an ICO, the SEC has to rely on those working within the cryptocurrencies themselves to police them. The SEC’s whistleblower program allows those working within cryptocurrencies who have knowledge of securities violations to help the government stop fraud by offering a bounty equal to 10 to 30 percent of the penalties that the SEC collects if the total exceeds $1 million.

What Should You Do if You are Considering an ICO Whistleblower Claim?

For those working on ICO’s or within cryptocurrencies, the SEC is interested in knowing about fraud. There is more to filing a whistleblower case than just knowing about ICO fraud, however. All of the extensive rules that apply to the SEC whistleblower program will apply here as well. Specifically, you must have unique information that the SEC does not already have, and you must be the first to alert them to the fraud. To attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney to decide whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive. Barrett Law has this experience and is standing by to ease any concerns you may have about becoming a whistleblower.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be an ICO or cryptocurrency whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgment and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

 

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Advises: How Does 2018 Trump Budget Affect Whistleblowers?

After a tremendous amount of political brinksmanship, President Trump signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 into law on February 9, 2018. As an expert in whistleblower law, people have asked me whether the budget had the positive effect on whistleblowers that many hoped for. In one word—ye

The 2018 Budget makes new amendments to the tax code that greatly increase the reward that many whistleblowers can attain for providing evidence of illegal activity to the government.

Taxation of Attorneys’ Fees

Whether you are a whistleblower or any other kind of plaintiff—personal injury, worker’s compensation, medical malpractice—historically, the money you paid to your attorney either out of pocket as the case progressed or as a percentage of any award was considered taxable income. Because some cases are extremely complex and required extensive attorneys fees, the tax consequences of having those fees considered income resulted in awards being eaten up by taxes.

While compensation awarded to relators under the False Claims Act could be deducted from annual gross income (similar to other claims such ones based on discrimination) other whistleblower laws did not have the same sort of allowable deduction. An interest in promoting whistleblower suits that benefited the public interest drove this deduction’s existence in the False Claims Act but was never applied to similar laws such as the IRS, Medicaid, and SEC whistleblower laws.

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow participants in other whistleblower programs to deduct attorneys’ fees so long as the amount of the fees is not greater than the amount of the compensation recovered in the whistleblower suit. Congress made these non-SEC whistleblowers equal to those participating in the SEC whistleblower program, which is an overall movement towards fairness.  Perhaps more importantly, Congress further incentivized citizens’ interests in going forward with fraud claims, which is good for all citizens.

Expanded IRS Whistleblower Program

In addition to leveling the tax deduction landscape for whistleblowers, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 also made an important change for participants in the IRS whistleblower program.  Historically, IRS whistleblowers were allowed to recover an award if they provided new information that led to an IRS enforcement action which recovered at least $2 million in “penalties, interest, additions to tax, and additional amounts.” However, sometimes the IRS recovered a tremendous amount of money through an enforcement action that did not fall into one of those categories. The 2018 Budget widens that narrow scope of situations under which a whistleblower can recover. Now whistleblowers can recover anytime the IRS collects “proceeds” of a fraud prosecution as a result of a whistleblower’s information. This is a significant change, as in the past whistleblowers failed to receive their due compensation because the IRS recovered funds through a manner not included in the prior definition.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim

Are you considering filing an IRS whistleblower case? As you have read, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 has made the landscape more generous and more level for whistleblowers, regardless if you are participating in the IRS, SEC, or any other program. But to attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney to decide whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be a whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgment and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

 

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Alert: SEC Awards Whistleblower $4.1 Million

A December 5, 2017, award by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) totaling $4.1 million dollars to a single whistleblower highlights the importance of whistleblowers to uncovering corporate corruption and the significant awards awaiting those willing to bring those behaviors to light. The SEC’s whistleblower program pays large awards to those who provide timely information resulting in a successful prosecution. A whistleblower may receive up to thirty percent of any sanction imposed on a corporation, and the sanctions are often in the millions of dollars.

If you are considering making an SEC whistleblower claim, you should understand the risks involved, including retaliation and loss of a career. Those risks are taken to achieve a significant reward, but the reward is not known until an investigation and successful prosecution. Accordingly, it is vital that you retain experienced whistleblower counsel to help you through this process so that the risks are mitigated and the reward is maximized.

The SEC could not do its work without whistleblowers.  The Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower Jane Norberg stated that the work of whistleblowers is evident in the “more than $671 million in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, much of which has been or is scheduled to be returned to harmed investors,” and recovered “based on actionable information from whistleblowers.” Overall, enforcement actions involving whistleblower awards have helped the SEC recover more than $1 billion in financial remedies.

Here is the exact language from the December SEC press release:

“The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of more than $4.1 million to a former company insider who alerted the agency to a widespread, multi-year securities law violation and continued to provide important information and assistance throughout the SEC’s investigation.  The whistleblower is the third awarded by the SEC in the past week.

Company insiders often have valuable information that can help the SEC halt an ongoing securities law violation and better protect investors,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.  “The breadth of the SEC’s whistleblower program is demonstrated by this case, where the whistleblower, a foreign national working outside of the United States, affirmatively stepped forward to shine a light on the wrongdoing.”

The SEC’s whistleblower program has now awarded more than $179 million to 50 whistleblowers since issuing its first award in 2012.  All payments are made out of an investor protection fund established by Congress that is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards.

Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action.  Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.

By law, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that might directly or indirectly reveal a whistleblower’s identity.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Are you considering filing an SEC whistleblower case? You will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney to decide whether the conduct you have observed constitutes an SEC violation. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be an SEC whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgment and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Advises: IRS Office of Whistleblower Annual Report Demonstrates Huge Opportunities for Claims

A recent annual report by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Office of the Whistleblower highlighted the tremendous awards awaiting those who pursue IRS whistleblower claims.  On January 5, 2018, the IRS released its Annual Report to Congress, making clear the tremendous settlements available to whistleblowers if they come forward. However, it also highlighted reduced staffing in the Office and a significant case backlog. For those new to this program, the IRS’s whistleblower program pays large awards to those who provide timely information resulting in a successful prosecution of tax misconduct. A whistleblower may receive up to thirty percent of any sanction imposed on a corporation, and the sanctions are often in the millions of dollars.

If you are considering making an IRS whistleblower claim, you should understand the risks involved, including retaliation and loss of a career. Those risks are taken to achieve a significant reward, but the reward is not known until after an investigation and successful prosecution. Accordingly, it is vital that you retain experienced whistleblower counsel to help you through this process so that the risks are mitigated and the reward is maximized.  Know that there is an extremely high risk that your whistleblowing will anger your employer and that that anger can translate into retaliation against you, often resulting in a losing your job. You should know that retaliation is prohibited however and that successful prosecution can result in your reinstatement, as well as other penalties such as double back pay, fines, and attorney fees. If you are a Mississippi whistleblower or think you may be, call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505.

Important Points in the IRS’s Annual Report:

  • In 2017 whistleblowers received over $33.9 million in awards, and over 242 award determinations were issued.
  • Since the inception of the program in 2007 whistleblower disclosures have resulted in recoveries of more than $3.6 billion, and the total amount of rewards paid is over $490 million.
  • The size of the IRS Office of the Whistleblower has been reduced, from 61 full-time equivalent employees to 38 FTEs.
  • There are 28,197 open whistleblower claims pending in the office.

It is important to note that the above statistics, while large, only reflect civil penalties extracted by the IRS’s whistleblower program and do not include criminal penalties that also often ensue from whistleblowers’ tips. So, while the $3.6 billion in recovery over ten years is a tremendous amount of money, it is only a fraction of the total bounty recovered. Sadly, the IRS continues to exclude criminal penalties from whistleblower; if your whistleblower claim results in a financial recovery, you will only be due a percentage of the civil penalties the IRS attains.

While the recovery amounts in the IRS’s Annual Report are tremendous, the reduction in staff and backlog of cases in the IRS’s whistleblower office are troubling. With a backlog of over 28,000 cases and a reduction of staff by half, it is hard to imagine that the IRS’s whistleblower office can continue this sort of enforcement with any gusto, a troubling thought for those risking their careers to bring fraud to light. Now more than ever, having a carefully written report to the IRS about the activities you have observed is vital. Catching the IRS’s attention will mean the difference between attaining your reward and waiting in a very long line.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Are you considering filing an IRS whistleblower case? You will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney to decide whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be an IRS whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgment and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

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