Petrofac Pays $150 Million to Settle Bribery Charges
Petrofac Ltd, a British oilfield services provider, will pay the UK Serious Fraud Office £77 million ($104.6 million) in penalties for Bribery Act offenses in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. It has pleaded guilty to seven separate offenses in a scheme to “systematically bribe officials” to win contracts worth billions of dollars, […]
Materiality at Issue When Alleged Noncompliance Did Not Increase Fixed-Rate Payments; United States District...
The district court granted in part and denied in part Walgreens’ motion to dismiss a qui tam case alleging it failed to identify whether...
Plaintiff Failed to Explain Why Reasons for Termination Were Pretextual; United States District Court...
The district court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging unlawful employment retaliation under the FCA. The plaintiff alleged she was fired after reporting multiple instances skilled nursing home facilities billed Medicare for services that were not provided to patients or for services that were provided but were not medically indicated. The court […]
Inspector General Reform on the Table
In an article for Lawfare, Bob Bauer, a former White House Counsel to President Barack Obama, examines recent congressional initiatives to reform government’s inspector general regime. Earlier this week, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee considered three bills—the Securing Inspector General Independence Act of 2021, the IG Testimonial Subpoena Authority Act and the […]
New Course for Construction Contractors Available on OFCCP’s Contractor Compliance Institute
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has released a new course in the Contractor Compliance Institute for federal and federally assisted construction contractors and subcontractors. The new course, Construction Compliance Review Course for Contractors, examines OFCCP’s compliance processes and procedures that apply to federal and federally assisted construction contracts to help covered construction contractors better […]
McKinsey Worked for Both Opioid Producers and FDA at Same Time
Consulting firm McKinsey & Company has been a regular advisor to the Food and Drug Administration’s drug-regulation division since 2008, working on a range of important projects. However, it has come to light beginning in 2019 that McKinsey’s clients during this time have included many of the country’s biggest drug companies, the regulation of which […]
Former Schlumberger Company Settles OFAC Case for $160k for Violation of Sudan Sanctions
Schlumberger Rod Lift (now d/b/a Lufkin Rod Lift, Inc.) has agreed to pay $160,000 to settle a 2016 violation of the since-repealed Sudan Sanctions Program, in which a subsidiary in Canada shipped goods to a joint venture in China, for ultimate delivery to Sudan. Mike Volkov describes the incident, the U.S. company’s history of related […]
DOJ Will Use FCA, Levy Fines for Failure to Report Data Breaches
Today, the Department of Justice announced that it would levy significant fines against federal contractors and other recipients of federal funding if they fail...
COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Federal Contractors Could Pose False Claims Act Risk
On September 9, 2020, President Biden signed an Executive Order on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, and on September 24 the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force issued a Guidance to implementing the Executive Order. However, neither the Executive Order nor the Guidance address the consequences of non-compliance by covered contractors. One question […]
Relators Successfully Add FCRA Violations to FCA Retaliation Claims: Court Says Invasion of Privacy...
The district court granted in part and denied in part the relators’ motion to file a second amended complaint in their qui tam case alleging healthcare fraud. The court found the complaint adequately described the claims with the required particularity and identified specific conduct by the defendants, including multiple defendants the relators wished to add […]