Tag Archives: whistleblower laws

Swiss drug maker Novartis has been sued by a U.S. Attorney for allegedly paying kickbacks to pharmacies that converted thousands of patients to one of its drugs. The civil fraud suit accuses the company of disguising the kickbacks as rebates and discounts for Myfortic, an immunosuppressant drug that helps kidney transplant patients avoid organ rejection. “Novartis co-opted the independence of certain pharmacists and turned them into salespeople for one of its drugs,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a …

Former basketball assistant Eric Murdock has filed a wrongful termination suit against Rutgers University amid the fallout following the disclosure of head coach Mike Rice’s abusive behavior toward the players.  Murdock, a former NBA player, worked for Rutgers as director of player development for men’s basketball from 2010 to 2012. He says that he initially met with university officials to bring up Rice’s behavior last summer; however, no action was taken against the coach, while Murdock lost his job. After using Freedom of Information …

A jury ordered a nursing home to pay over $28 million for fraudulent billing, providing worthless services and for retaliating against two employees who complained about the shoddy care at the facility. Two former employees of the Momence Meadows Nursing Center in Illinois brought their claim in 2004, accusing the nursing home of providing substandard care to elderly and disabled patients that lead to the deaths of three patients and rampant bed sores on patients. Patients with bed sores, or …

A former Philadelphia city employee is alleging that he was fired from his job at the Controller’s Office for refusing to participate in a cover-up of misused city money. Ralph Kaplan was a recently-hired auditor who was reviewing a city bond program in the fall of 2011. During the audit, he discovered that $2.2 million had been spent on back taxes and other bills by a cultural institution called the New Freedom Theatre, when the enabling legislation indicated that the …

Hole frontwoman Courtney Love, who was sued last month for alleged nonpayment of more than $400,000 in attorney’s fees, is now facing a different lawsuit from her former assistant. The new suit alleges unpaid wages and a whole lot more — including claims that Love directed her assistant to hire a computer hacker and mail fake legal documents. Jessica Labrie, Love’s former assistant, claims that she routinely worked more than 60 hours per week without overtime pay, and that “harassment, …