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Archive for the ‘Financial Industry’ Category

Bank of America Sued Over Failing to Process Re-Finance Applications

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

A former loan officer for Bank of America has sued the company for taking money from borrowers who were seeking to refinance their mortgages and then failing to follow through by actually processing the applications. Linda Langlois, 58, began working for the Bank in August, 2009, and processed several applications for refinances daily, at $399 per borrower. She became suspicious when the potential borrowers starting calling her months later, checking into the status of their applications, when each application should have taken only 60 to 90 days to process. In many cases, nothing had been done on the applications, and the borrowers, already behind when originally seeking to refinance, were no longer qualified when their credit applications had to be run again. Further, according to Langlois, she and other loan officers were denied commissions to which they were entitled based on their business generation. Langlois’ suit alleges unfair and unlawful lending practices by the Bank, and seeks back wages and employee benefits as a result of her termination.

For more information, see: http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2010/07/26/story6.html?b=1280116800%5e3697891&ana=e_vert

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IRS Reports Whistleblower Complaints On The Rise

Monday, October 5th, 2009

The Internal Revenue Service (”IRS”) recently reported an increase in the number of whistleblower complaints it has received under the new IRS Whistleblower Law that was enacted in 2006.  The IRS Whistleblower Law enables private individuals to report: (1) underpayments of tax; and (2) persons otherwise guilty of violating the internal revenue laws.  The IRS Whistleblower Law, like the False Claims Act, rewards whistleblowers who report allegations to the government.  In general, a whistleblower can receive an award of between 15% to 30% of the collected proceeds (including penalties, interest, additions to tax and additional amounts).

The IRS recently reported to Congress that it received 1,246 whistleblower claims in 2008.  To meet this increased volume of claims, the staff of the IRS’ Whistleblower Office grew in 2008 from 4 to 14, including 10 analysts with substantial experience in a wide variety of IRS compliance programs. 

A copy of the 2009 IRS Report to Congress can be found on the Internet at  http://www.irs.gov/pub/whistleblower/annual_report_to_congress_september_2009.pdf

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Government Website Tracks Federal Stimulus Spending

Monday, October 5th, 2009

The United States Government has established a new website that allows citizens to track stimulus spending under the Recovery Act.  This interactive website allows stimulus spending to be tracked by state and/or zip code.  The website also contains links to reports by the Government Accountability Office (”GAO”), instructions for reporting fraud, as well as other resources and information about federal stimulus spending.

This interesting new Government’s website can be found on the Internet at www.recovery.gov.

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Welcome to the False Claims Act – Whistleblowers Blog

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Welcome to the False Claims Act – Whistleblowers Blog. The Federal and State Governments spend trillions of dollars each year to fund a wide variety of programs and to purchase vast amounts of goods and services.  Some of the larger government programs include: Medicare, Medicaid, Department of Defense-Military Spending, the Troubled Assets Relief Program (”TARP”), Federal Emergency Management Agency (”FEMA”) Spending, Department of Education Grants; Department of Energy Grants and Mining and Gas Royalties; and General Services Administration (”GSA”) Spending.   

Each of these government programs is a frequent target for fraudulent schemes and false claims. The Government does not have the resources necessary to protect every dollar of taxpayer spending. The Government has come to rely upon Whistleblowers, often referred to as “Qui Tam Relators,” to blow-the-whistle on businesses and individuals who attempt to defraud the Government.

This blog is devoted to providing information and resources to those interested in: whistleblowers; fraud by government contractors; the Federal False Claims Act; State False Claims Acts; Government Investigations; Qui Tam Actions; Qui Tam Relators; Pharmaceutical Industry Fraud; Defense Contracting Fraud; Healthcare Fraud; Financial Industry Fraud; Construction Industry Fraud; Energy Industry Fraud; Grant Fraud; Disaster Recovery Fraud; and Government Procurement Fraud.

We welcome you to this Blog, and hope that you find the information and resources useful and enlightening.

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