Whistleblower Attorney Timothy J. McInnis, Esq., Leads
New Nationwide Mentoring Program Sponsored By Washington, D.C.-Based
Taxpayers Against Fraud (“TAF”) Education Fund
TAF Is A National Legal Organization, Comprised of Attorneys
Who Represent Whistleblowers Under Federal And State False Claims Acts.
NEW YORK CITY -- Whistleblower Attorney Timothy J. McInnis, Esq. is leading a new nationwide whistleblower attorney mentoring program pairing novice lawyers with experienced whistleblower practitioners sponsored by Washington, D.C.-based Taxpayers Against Fraud (“TAF”) Education Fund, the national legal organization for attorneys who represent whistleblowers under federal and state False Claims Acts.
Timothy J. McInnis, Esq. Leads New National
Qui Tam Whistleblower Attorney Mentoring Program (PDF)
"The Big Picture"
20 Years of Department of Justice Fraud Statistics
From The False Claims and Qui Tam Quarterly Review , the nation’s premier legal journal devoted solely to the False Claims Act and qui tam litigation. Presented with permission from Quarterly Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund (TAFEF), a nonprofit, public interest, membership organization dedicated to combating fraud against the Federal Government through the promotion and use of the Federal False Claims Act and its qui tam provisions. Timothy J. McInnis, Esq. is a longtime Taxpayers Against Fraud member.
"The Big Picture" (PDF)
Record Fraud Recoveries Under the False Claims Act;
20-Year Old Law One of Nation's Most Effective
Note: Timothy J. McInnis, Esq. is a long-time member of Taxpayers Against Fraud ("TAF"), a member of the DC-based organization's advisory board, and served as a panel chairman at TAF's last three annual meetings.
WASHINGTON — Fiscal Year 2006 will be a record year for False Claims Act ("FCA") recoveries, says Taxpayers Against Fraud, which estimates total settlements and judgments will top $3.142 billion. This figure does not include more than $200 million in settlements which have been announced by companies but not yet green-lighted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Notes Jim Moorman, president of Taxpayers Against Fraud, "We have seen extraordinary fraud settlements this year. The whistleblowers, investigators, and private and Department of Justice attorneys that have worked on these cases deserve a huge thank you from the American people."
Moorman notes that 80 percent of all successfully resolved FCA cases are brought to the government by whistleblowers, and while the amount of money being recovered is going up, the actual number of cases being settled has not. This is because the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division has not been given the resources to handle its False Claims Act case load. "The folks at DoJ are working very hard, but they need more resources from Congress and the Administration."
The revived False Claims Act is 20 years old this year, and remains the most important tool the Government has to fight fraud against U.S. taxpayers. The False Claims Act provides for triple damages plus statutory fines of up to $11,000 per false claims, with whistleblowers that bring evidence of fraud to the Government are eligible for awards of 15 to 30 percent of the total amount recovered under the Act. DoJ's policy is to extract double damages when it settles.
That's the theory. In reality, says Moorman, the Government is as likely to settle fraud cases for single damages, or less, than double damages. "If we look at the big fraud cases settled this year, it appears Tenet Healthcare stole $1.9 billion but only had to pay back $900 million; that St. Barnabas Hospitals had to pay back $265 million, but stole more than twice that amount; that Mario Gabelli and associates may have pocketed over $200 million from their scam, but they only had to pay back $130 million.
"The goal of the False Claims Act is to change the way companies do business, but if that's going to occur, the Government needs to devote more resources to False Claims Act enforcement so more cases can be pursued. DoJ is doing all it can with the resources it now has, but Congress and the Administration have not provided what is needed to clear the docket."
Moorman notes that in the health care arena, the False Claims Act is returning more than $15 back to the American people for every dollar invested in investigations and prosecutions.
"If False Claims Act enforcement were run like a business, the Government would expand its operations dramatically. Instead, while we know we are losing billions of dollars a year to fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, the war in Iraq, and Hurricane Katrina aid, we devote a ridiculously small amount of resources to False Claims Act prosecutions and enforcement. For example, the Civil Division's Fraud Team only got $23 million in FY 2006, and all of the U.S. Attorney's office combined got less than $57 million for FCA cases. This is amazingly little when compared with the magnificent $3 billion recovered under the False Claims Act this year. Think what could be done if enforcement resources were doubled or tripled."
Timothy J. McInnis, Esq. To Chair Panel
At Taxpayer's Against Fraud's Annual Meeting
In Washington, D.C., In September 2006
WASHINGTON — Whistleblower Attorney Timothy J. McInnis, Esq. will head a panel discussion when the nation's foremost legal association for whistleblower qui tam attorneys meets here in September. The Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund Conference: Government Perspectives on the False Claims Act will bring some of the leading False Claims Act practitioners together in Washington, D.C.
McInnis' panel entitled, False Claims Act Qui Tam Practice: Business Concerns & Considerations will be held in a breakout session for attorneys on Monday September 11, 2006.
Originally appearing on TAF's Web site.
Research Hospitals
In The Compliance Hot Seat
May 23, 2006
By Richard Merli
Managing Editor, Health Care Insider
Major hospitals have become the target of federal investigators over the failure to address the misuse and misappropriation of medical research funds from the government.
The problem -- which industry observers say is endemic in research -- has caused hospitals to overhaul their compliance policies and add oversight. But it has also created more paperwork and administrative duties for researchers, some of whom are much-sought-after superstars who will grouse at the additional burden.
The stakes for proper compliance are enormous. Not only does a research institution face criminal prosecution and loss of reputation in such cases, but a scandal-tainted hospital is much less likely to get federal funding in the future. Hospitals have only recently started implementing robust compliance programs and accounting controls.
Read this complete article
from
the KPMG Health Care Insider
Whistleblowers Received $170 Million
In Fiscal 2005;
More Than $1 Billion
Recovered By Federal Government,
Attorney Timothy J. McInnis Reports
NEW YORK CITY - Individuals and businesses who blew the whistle on contract, program and other schemes to defraud the federal Government were awarded nearly $170 million in fiscal 2005, according to New York City Attorney Timothy J. McInnis, Esq., whose national legal practice concentrates on representing whistleblowers by filing fraud-against-government cases under Qui Tam provisions of the False Claims Act.
Some $1.1 billion was recovered by the Government via whistleblower claims in the fiscal year that ended in September 2005, according to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, and 2006 is shaping up to be even bigger, said McInnis, a former federal prosecutor who handles whistleblower-revealed fraud in all types of Government programs and purchasing.
The False Claims Act, which dates back to the Civil War, was substantially strengthened in 1986 to better reward and protect whistleblowers who bring knowledge of fraud to the Government via attorneys like McInnis.
Individuals and entities who defraud the Government by claiming federal funds to which they know they aren't entitled are liable for three times the Government's loss and penalties up to $11,000 for each false claim, McInnis explained.
Read The Complete News Release
Note: Timothy J. McInnis, Esq. is a long-time member of Taxpayers Against Fraud, sits on the Washington, D.C.-based organization's six-person TAF Advisory Committee, and lead a panel discussion at its 2005 annual meeting.
Timothy J. McInnis, Esq.
Looks At A Major Supreme Court Decision
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. United States ex rel. Stevens, No.
98-1828
Timothy J. McInnis, Esq. Testifies Before
The New York City Council
Committee on Government Operations
In Support of Intro. 346,
The New York City False Claims Act
Timothy J. McInnis, Esq. testifies as both a private attorney concentrating on Qui Tam and on behalf of the DC-based organization Taxpayers Against Fraud ("TAF"), the nonprofit national organization that supports False Claims Act whistleblowers and their attorneys. McInnis is a member of the Board of Advisors of TAF.
Whistleblowers Receive $319 Million for "Doing The Right Thing." The Law Firm of Timothy J. McInnis looks at False Claims Act Recoveries in Fiscal Year 2003, based on the most recent U.S. Department of Justice news release.
$319 Million Paid to Whistleblowers
Successful Cases
from The Law Office of Timothy J. McInnis
M.L. Energia, Inc.
and Moshe Lavid, Ph.d.
Applied Consulting, Inc.
Applied CaseManagement, Inc.
The Mount Vernon Hospital
Catskill Regional Medical Center
Columbia University
Montefiore Medical Center
Center for Pain Management
Copyright © 2001-2009. Law Office of Timothy J. McInnis, Esq. All Rights Reserved.
