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8Jul/100

A Whistleblower SNAFU gets Worse

This post was written by Josh

Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq who leaked video of a deadly helicopter attack that killed several people, including a Reuters reporter and a cameraman, has been charged with downloading more than 150,00 highly classified diplomatic cables. In a series of chats with a former outlaw hacker, R. Adrian Lamo, Manning claimed that the number of documents he leaked was even higher--260,000.

Manning leaked his information to the WikiLeaks site, and the video from the helicopter incident in particular set off a storm of controversy. In terms of the hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables that Manning claimed to have leaked, only one appeared on WikiLeaks--a cable which summarized the U.S. Embassy's discussions with Iceland regarding the strange nation's debt problems (one cause of which apparently was Icelanders' superiority complex, which convinced many life-long fisherman that they were professional investors).

The big question now is whether Manning did a public service by leaking these documents and videos or just got carried away in his quest for attention. Manning had drifted from job to job, and at one point found himself homeless. In introducing himself to Lamo, Manning wrote that he was facing discharge for an ''adjustment disorder." Manning also assaulted a fellow soldier, and wrote that he had been ignored by his fellow soldiers to the point that he felt like all had left were his laptop, some books, and ''a hell of a story.''

Manning's leaked video has been compared to The Pentagon Papers, which detailed the U.S. government's activities in Vietnam and revealed that four presidential administrations had misled the public regarding their intentions in the area. The Pentagon Papers were leaked to The New York Times by Daniel Ellsberg in 1971.

Bradley Manning is a different breed of whistleblower from those typically involved in exposing fraud against the government, and his case will continue to generate controversy. On the one hand, he exploited his access to sensitive information, violated the trust the military put in him, and potentially put U.S. soldiers and diplomatic relations at risk. On the other hand, he exposed the ugly side of war, one from which most Americans are shielded.

This article is brought to you by the QTT, the epicenter for whistleblowers and people interested in the False Claims Act, Qui Tam Provisions, and Medicare and Medicaid fraud. To discuss a potential case, please call Eric Young at 1 (800) 590-4116.

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Tagged as: government, military, whistleblower No Comments

30Jun/100

Crankin’up the HEAT

This post was written by Josh

HEAT is the rather odd acronym for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team. It is the brainchild of Attorney General Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius, and despite the great stretches of the imagination it takes to make it work as an acronym (HCFPEAT doesn't exactly roll off the tongue), it seems to be taking a bite out of health care fraud.

HEAT is a coordinated effort between DOJ and HHS, and it has a Medicare Fraud Strike Force that has been going around various cities busting health care fraud perps. It's operating in various locations, including South Florida, but no, you are not likely to see Attorney General Holder wearing a Miami Vice suit and driving a go-fast boat into a medical center.

In recent testimony given before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health and Oversight, Edward Siskel, the Associate Deputy Attorney General, stated that since May 2009, the Strike Force has been putting fear in the hearts of health care fraudsters. Strike Force prosecutors have filed over 120 cases charging more than 290 defendants and have obtained 16 convictions. The Strike Force also appears to have had a deterrent effect. In the twelve months since the Strike Force was announced, the Miami area has seen an almost $2 billion reduction in durable medical equipment submissions compared to the preceding 12 month period.

Deputy AG Siskel also notes in his testimony statistics all too familiar to qui tamers: the bulk of the DOJ's civil case load comprises suits against drug and medical device makers. Qui tam suits have proved to be an important weapon in the DOJ's fraud-fighting arsenal, and have helped the government to recover $24 billion since 1986. This goes to show that the civil justice system is just as important as the swaggering Task Force in the fight against health care fraud.

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Tagged as: False Claims Act, FCA, fraud, government, health care, medicaid, medicare, Pharmaceutical, qui tam No Comments

25Jun/100

False Marking Suit Against Solo Cup Lid Maker is a Bust

This post was written by Josh

The patent attorney who brought a qui tam suit against the maker of Solo cup lids has failed in his quest to collect trillions of dollars in fines. We blogged previously about patent lawyer Matthew Pequignot's suit against Solo based on the qui tam provision of the patent law which allows citizens to sue companies that deceive the public with false or expired patent markings on their products.

Pequignot was claiming $500 per violation, and considering the vast number of Solo lids in existence--21,757,893,672 (you may even be slobbering all over one right now)--the fines would have produced an award for the United States of $5.4 trillion—enough to pay 42% of the national debt. Where Solo would have gotten its hands on this kind of cash is anyone's guess. What Pequignot would have done with his trillions is also unknown. He could have purchased several muncipalities, or even a few states, and started his own patent-ocracy.

The court found that Pequignot failed to prove that Solo intended to deceive the public with its expired patent mark. Intent can be very difficult to prove in lawsuits generally, and it doesn't help that a lot of products are stamped with expired patents simply because the manufacturer is too lazy or cheap to change the molds or machining.

In Solo's case, it appears that the company did not change its molds based on cost-saving. A Solo cup mold produces a lid every four to six seconds, and goes on doing this for 20 years or more. Based on advice from an attorney, Solo instituted a policy whereby replacement molds would not include the expired patent number. However, the molds were only to be replaced when the old mold became damaged or wore out. This helps to explain why there were/are so many Solo lids floating around out there with the expired patent marking.

The general consensus is that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's ruling will put a damper on future suits aimed at getting big money for false marking. But with the number of old molds constantly stamping away out there, we'll see.

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