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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) recently announced actions to shut down mortgage loan modification scams that had victimized thousands of distressed homeowners throughout the nation. The scams took in more than $10 million by charging consumers for services that falsely promised foreclosure avoidance assistance or renegotiation of mortgages. Federal […]

Banks were fined a record of more than $10.7 billion in 2012 for various misdeeds ranging from manipulating interest rates to improperly foreclosing on distressed homeowners. The record $10.7 billion total includes only what banks paid to U.S. and state authorities, not the additional billions global banks also agreed to […]

Raleigh-based WakeMed has agreed to pay $8 million to settle an investigation into its practice of billing Medicare for expensive overnight hospital stays even though the patients had been treated and discharged the same day. The settlement resolves criminal charges brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of […]

Last week, biotechnology giant Amgen agreed to pay some $762 million to resolve claims involving unlawful marketing of the anemia drug Aranesp. Federal prosecutors charged Amgen with illegally marketing Aranesp for unapproved uses even after the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) expressly ruled them out. The federal charges were made […]

The Pew Charitable Trust has released a report on the use of arbitration clauses in financial institution customer agreements. The report contains Pew’s findings on arbitration clauses, including the prevalence of such clauses and consumer attitudes about them. Pew is likely to send the report to the Consumer Financial Protection […]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) is continuing work on its study of pre-dispute arbitration agreements. Section 1028 of the Dodd-Frank Act requires CFPB to conduct a study of and report to Congress concerning the use of arbitration clauses in consumer agreements. In April CFPB began work on the study […]

Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas has agreed to pay more than $900,000 to resolve charges that it submitted false claims to Medicare for radiation oncology services. The settlement, announced by the U.S. Department of Justice on November 27, 2012, resolves a federal whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2010 by a […]

On November 27, 2012, President Barack Obama signed into law the Whistleblower Protection Enforcement Act, a law that provides federal whistleblowers new and expanded protections. The law upgrades existing safeguards for federal employees who witness and report fraud, abuse, or waste within the federal government. The new law lowers the […]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued its Annual Report on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program this week. A section of the Dodd-Frank Act requires the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower to report annually to Congress on its activities, whistleblower complaints, and the SEC’s response to such complaints. The SEC […]

A federal judge ruled that a whistleblower lawsuit may proceed against Wells Fargo and Mortgage Investors Corporation (“MIC”) with claims that the banks illegally charged veteran borrowers hidden fees on refinanced home loans backed by the Veterans Administration (“VA”). According to the suits, the banks’ misconduct cost taxpayers hundreds of […]