The Supreme Court strengthened whistleblower protections in a unanimous decision this month, rejecting an argument that financial whistleblowers need to prove their employers acted with “retaliatory intent” to recover damages when they are fired for engaging in protected activity under the law. The 9-0 vote was a win for former UBS Securities bond strategist Trevor Murray, who had filed a whistleblower complaint under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) saying he was fired from UBS for reporting … [Read more...]

Are there too many False Claims Act cases? Not only do the numbers say no, but the inference by FCA opponents that whistleblowers are filing frivolous suits is misguided. First, let’s look at the numbers. Jacklyn DeMar of The Anti-Fraud Coalition argues we actually need more FCA cases to root out the likely amount of fraud that exists in a $6.27 trillion, yes trillion, federal budget. Of the 309,102 new civil cases filed in the United States in 2022, only 652 were qui tam actions — … [Read more...]

At Keller Grover, we often see a surge of whistleblower reports after the new year. This can happen for a number of reasons. Sometimes people are fired or pushed out of a job toward the end of the year for speaking out about wrongdoing. Others may have discussed something they witnessed at work with friends and family over the holidays and feel compelled to step forward. And others just want to start the year fresh. Whatever the reason, now is as good a time as any to report a fraud on the … [Read more...]

As 2023 wraps up, it’s worth a look back at what has been a defining year for whistleblowers. After the flood of pandemic-related stimulus money, 2023 saw a series of prosecutions related to misuse of those funds — brought to light by people who spoke up about the fraudulent use of public money. Whistleblowers also continued to alert the government to troubling allegations of fraud in the health care system, one of the government’s largest single expenses. Whistleblowers received millions … [Read more...]