The False Claims Act whistleblower received a $600k reward. An importer has paid $3.1 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit alleging it misclassified hazardous chemicals from China to evade more than $1 million in customs duties. The whistleblower, a former employee of importer Penta International, will receive $600,000—or nearly 20% of the recovery—as a whistleblower reward under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which intervened in the case ..read more

The whistleblower, a business competitor of the allegedly dishonest importer, received a $286,000 whistleblower reward. Industrial tools firm King Kong Tools has paid $1.9 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit alleging it transshipped Chinese merchandise through Germany—fraudulently redesignating them as German origin—to circumvent applicable customs duties. Whistleblower China Pacificarbide—which competes with King Kong in the industrial tools market—filed the lawsuit under the False Claims Act.  It will receive $286,000 or approximately 15% of the recovery as a ..read more

The former logistics staffer who reported the import-duty evasion will receive a $152K whistleblower reward. An importer of  Chinese-manufactured ready-to-assemble furniture sold through such retailers as Walmart and Wayfair has paid $798,334 to resolve whistleblower claims it fraudulently used undervalued commercial invoices to reduce its import-duty obligations. A former employee of Homestar North America alerted the U.S. government to the importer’s alleged double-invoicing scheme by filing a lawsuit under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act and will receive $151,000—a ..read more

Former employees who blew the whistle on the duty evasion will share a $500k whistleblower reward. ADCO Industries, a Texas-based importer of industrial products, has agreed to shell out $2.5 million to end a whistleblower lawsuit alleging it knowingly undervalued merchandise from China to fraudulently reduce its customs duties. Two former ADCO employees of ADCO initiated the customs-fraud case under the whistleblower or qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act and will share a whistleblower reward of $500,000, according to the U.S. Justice Department, which intervened in the case ..read more

Former Yakima employee to receive False Claims Act whistleblower award of more than half a million dollars. Yakima Products, a maker of automobile accessories such as hitches and roof racks, will pay $3 million to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit brought by its former director of operations alleging it knowingly underdeclared its customs duties and misdeclared the country-of-origin of its imports. The whistleblower filed a qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act on behalf of the U.S. government, which intervened in the case.  He will receive 17% of the recovery—or more than $500,000—as ..read more

Pharmaceutical firm Danco Labs allegedly imported products lacking country-of-origin labels from China yet failed to pay the 10% “marking duties” it owed. Drug distributor Danco Laboratories has agreed to pay $765,000 to resolve a federal whistleblower lawsuit alleging it violated the False Claims Act by failing to pay marking duties on products it imported from China without country-of-origin labels. Imports are required to be labeled with their “country of origin,” which means the country where the product was manufactured or produced or where work was performed on the product resulting in i ..read more

Coyne Public Relations of New Jersey allegedly applied for and obtained a forgivable PPP loan despite its ineligibility. Coyne Public Relations, a New Jersey public-relations firm, had paid $2.24 million to the federal government to resolve a whistleblower case alleging that it knowingly applied for and received a forgivable loan under the Paycheck Protection Program despite its ineligibility. The whistleblower, which alerted the government to the fraud by filing a qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act, received a whistleblower award from the settlement of $203,000 ..read more

A former Genotox billing manager brought the misconduct to the attention of the Justice Department by filing a False Claims Act lawsuit. He received a $1M whistleblower award. Medical-testing firm Genotox Laboratories of Austin, Texas has agreed to pay $5.9 million to resolve allegations it violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act by paying volume-based commissions to independent sales representatives and specimen collectors working in medical practices. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Genotox paid the sales representatives—whom it referred to as 1099 contractors in ..read more

Three Adobe employees filed False Claims Act lawsuits exposing the scheme and will share a $555K whistleblower reward. Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) has agreed to pay $3 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying illegal kickbacks to software-reseller partners in return for their promotion and sale of the company’s products to government customers. As a result of the scheme, the U.S. government was fraudulently tricked into purchasing unnecessary software licenses as well as software bundles containing applications it never requested, the U.S. Department of Just ..read more

In separate lawsuits, the government alleged that two for-profit education companies defrauded a tuition assistance program for military veterans. Two for-profit educational organizations will pay a combined $9.5 million for defrauding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Post-9/11 GI Bill program in violation of the False Claims Act. A federal court in Waco, Texas, awarded the government a $9 million judgment against ELPSS Career Institute LLC of Texas and its director Ricky J. Daniels Jr, after finding that  they submitted false certifications regarding the school’s eligibility to r ..read more