Whistleblower Law Blog

According to the Boston Globe, the White House announced that it will delay the release of a database containing records of contractor fraud and substandard performance, stating “legal and practical issues” must first be addressed.  The database, named the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System, was established in 2008 and includes information companies must [...]

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The Attorney General of New York has settled its lawsuit against Sodexo, a provider of school lunches, for $20 million.  Two whistleblowers, John and Jay Carciero, filed the qui tam action alleging Sodexo received illegal kickbacks from the vendors it selected for school lunch programs.  Under New York law, whistleblowers are entitled to a reward [...]

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According to the Wall Street Journal, Senate leaders – motivated by a recent salmonella outbreak and massive egg recall – will likely bring their version of the Food Safety Modernization Act to a vote in the full Senate on September 13.  Click here for a copy of Senate Bill S. 510.  The House has already passed [...]

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As reported by the Blog of Legal Times, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has awarded $1 million to Glen Kaiser and Karen Kaiser who blew the whistle on insider trading committed by Pequot Capital Management, Inc.  The Kaisers provided the SEC with emails between a Microsoft employee and a Pequot employee, David Zilkh.  Pequot [...]

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On July 12, 2010, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) held in the case of Gonzalez v. DHS that the mere existence of a federal agency’s open investigation into allegations regarding a federal employee’s conduct cannot be the sole cause for that employee’s indefinite suspension.  The employee, Manuel Gonzalez, was suspended without pay indefinitely by [...]

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The SEC has agreed to pay $755,000 to settle a wrongful discharge claim brought by former employee Gary J. Aguirre.  Aguirre, an attorney at the SEC, headed an investigation of Pequot Capital Management for insider trading.  After urging management at the SEC to issue a subpoena for Wall Street banker John Mack, Aguirre was discharged.  [...]

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On April 2, 2010, a False Claims Act qui tam action against Oracle Corp. and Oracle USA, Inc. was unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Oracle entered into Multiple Award Schedule agreements with the GSA.  Under these agreements, the federal government is supposed to receive discounts “equal to or [...]

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On June 1, 2010, OHSA ordered U.S. Bank in Seattle to reinstate a former manager fired in retaliation for filing an internal complaint alleging securities and bank fraud by company employees.  The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) protects employees who engage in protected activity by providing information that the employee reasonably believes constitutes a violation of federal [...]

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In Dixon v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior., the Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (ARB) held that Earle Dixon, a federal employee of the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) engaged in protected activity under the whistleblower provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and [...]

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Last week, a federal jury awarded Ken Marable $2.8 million in a whistleblower lawsuit against Washington State after finding that Marable’s supervisors retaliated against him for complaining about paycheck padding and misuse of department funds.  Marable, a chief engineer for the ferry system for 34 years, alleged that he was subjected to retaliation because he [...]

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