Friday, June 10, 2011

Getting personal: Feds pursue top execs in health care fraud cases previously settled for cash

The Health and Human Services agency has decided to adopt a much more aggressive legal stance against corporate healthcare fraud which is estimated to cost the government $60 billion a year from medicare fraud and put Americans at risk with unscrupulous drug claims and illegal marketing. Moving forward the CEOs of companies that engage in these practices can be held personally responsible for the actions of their employees, whether knowledgable of specific acts or not, face jail time and a lifetime ban from the industry. This is the sort of compliance incentives that we need to restore corporate integrity and protect the public interest. Bravo!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/getting-personal-feds-pursue-top-execs-in-health-care-fraud-cases-previously-settled-for-cash/2011/05/31/AGg6QHFH_story.html

Ex-N.S.A. Aide Gains Plea Deal in Leak Case; Setback to U.S.

The Obama Administration's prosecution of NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake turned on a single ruling by a district court judge. When Richard D. Bennett declared that prosecutors would have to show the jury some of the 'classified' documents that were key to the case, the government withdrew several and redacted others before offering Drake a plea bargain on a minor charge. The outcome of this draconian legal preceding, Drake faced 35 years in prison under the Espionage Act for exposing massive NSA mismanagement, is a hopeful demonstration of the potential of the law to serve legal principles of fairness involving powerful interests, such as the US Government. But, in the end, it all depends on the judge.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/us/10leak.html?pagewanted=1&hp