Government Contracts & Whistleblower Legislation News

A federal judge in Western Pennsylvania has refused to dismiss a qui tam suit alleging that Pittsburgh-based Education Management Corp., which runs more than 100 campuses, defrauded the federal government of $11 billion in federal student aid by violating the terms of the Higher Education Act, which bars the distribution of incentives to college recruiters based on the number of students they draw.

Federal prosecutors have once again parlayed False Claims Act allegations into a nine-figure settlement with a bank at the center of the mortgage crisis.

WellCare Health Plans Inc. (WCG) (WCG) agreed to pay $137.5 million to the U.S. and nine states to resolve civil claims that it overbilled the Medicare and Medicaid programs, the U.S. Justice Department said.

A federal judge on Friday dismissed five out of nine claims against Bank of New York Mellon over its foreign exchange pricing practices, and shipped off four remaining claims to be tried in different state courts, according to a ruling.

The U.S. Justice Department announced March 20 that it has agreed to a $47 million settlement in a long-running whistleblower suit that alleged a group of companies rigged bids on construction contracts in Egypt in the 1980s and 1990s.