Whistleblower Protection Blog : Whistleblower Lawyer & Attorney : National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund : Whistleblower Protection, Fraud Claims : Washington DC

The Washington Post has published year-end articles that highlight three ongoing projects of the National Whistleblower Center.

In an article published on December 26, "Top 10 stories in the federal workforce in 2012", The Washington Post cited the scandal involving FDA electronic spying on its own scientists who blew the whistle on agency misconduct. The Post ranked the FDA electronic spying scandal as the number 9 story that affected the federal workforce this past year. The NWC has been actively supporting the scientists who have sued the FDA for whistleblower retaliation and challenged the constitutionality of the FDA's secret monitoring of the scientists' personal and private emails.  As revealed by the NWC and the whistleblower scientists, the FDA targeted the whistleblowers for electronic surveillance by installing secret spyware on their computers.  The FDA captured confidential emails from the whistleblowers' personal and private email accounts (such as Yahoo and Gmail accounts) and the FDA stole the whistleblowers' confidential communications with their attorneys as well as communications with members of Congress, the Inspector General and others discussing the whistleblowers' allegations of serious wrongdoing by the agency.

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Whistleblowers have succeeded in a $1.5 billion off-label marketing case against Abbott Laboratories Inc., the Department of Justice announced today. Combined, the $700 million criminal fines and $800 million civil fines are the second largest government recovery from a drug company in history.

The Department of Justice intervened after four whistleblowers filed suit against the company. These plaintiffs provided original information to prove that Abbott marketed a drug called Depakote for controlling agitation and aggression in elderly dementia patients and to treat schizophrenia. However, the FDA had never approved Depakote for either use, and Abbott-sponsored studies showed that the drug was both ineffective in these areas and also potentially dangerous. 

“Not only did Abbott engage in off-label promotion, but it targeted elderly dementia patients and downplayed the risks apparent from its own clinical studies,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West. “As this criminal and civil resolution demonstrates, those who put profits ahead of patients will pay a hefty price.”

The fines from these suits are hefty, indeed. Government recoveries are three times the amount of the fraud. Since many crimes are never discovered, though, companies still see an incentive to commit fraud. The Department of Justice's visible and successful cooperation with whistleblowers will force companies to reevaluate their cost-benefit analyses. It is clear, then, that this $1.5 billion settlement is a win for accountability and a win for American health and safety.

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Last week the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it has intervened in a whistleblower lawsuit brought against an ink manufacturer for skirting the payment of import duties. The case against Toyo Ink is still in its early stages, but government intervention is a significant victory for the whistleblower, John Dickson.

When employees are harassed or fired for reporting misconduct, fighting and paying for a whistleblower lawsuit can look seem like an insurmountable challenge. When you imagine this battle of David versus Goliath, you can start to grasp how big this news is for Mr. Dickson's case.

Government funds are, of course, limited. The benefits of False Claims Act investigations like this one, however, are well worth the cost. If the Department of Justice can demonstrate that Toyo Ink did, in fact, cheat its way out of paying import duties on its ink, the company will be forced to pay back the costs threefold. That money pays for the investigation, and it serves as a powerful deterrent to other would-be fraudsters.

Cases like these are great examples of how whistleblowing works. Mr. Dickson's courage to step forward has been recognized with this government assistance. Hats off to the Department of Justice for stepping up to bat for this whistleblower–another American hero.

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