Whistleblower/Qui Tam

• Partner Randall Fox quoted in Law360 article discussing newly-expanded New York tax whistleblower law signed by Governor Kathy Hochul

  05/03/2023 | Law360

  KM Partner Randall Fox is quoted in a Law360 article discussing the recent expansion of tax-related whistleblower cases under the New York False Claims Act, now allowing for cases to be brought against wealthy individuals and businesses that do not file New York tax returns and pay New York taxes they owe.  Previously, such non-filers could escape liability because the statute applied only where a whistleblower could point to specific false statements or records related to tax obligations.
  
  Fox described that the importance of the amendment is that it will lead to enforcement against non-filers who are notoriously difficult to find through the traditional audit process: “if tax audits are akin to finding a needle in a haystack, ‘here, you don’t even have a haystack.’”

• Partner Randall Fox authors an article on NY’s correct treatment of the False Claims Act’s knowledge element, an issue now before the U.S. Supreme Court

  03/10/2023 | Law360

  KM partner Randall Fox has published an article in Law360 discussing how New York has already decided an important issue about the “knowledge” element of the False Claims Act that will be argued next month before the U.S. Supreme Court. In the Sprint case under the New York False Claims Act, New York’s high court ruled in 2015 that the knowledge element depends upon a defendant’s contemporaneous understanding of the applicable rules. In the cases now before the Supreme Court, the defendants are arguing that they can instead rely on interpretations asserted for the first time after the False Claims Act case was filed.

• Co-Managing Partner David Kovel Speaks at 22nd Annual Coalition of Civil Advocates Conference

  11/11/2022

  Co-Managing Partner David Kovel spoke at the 22nd annual Coalition of Civil Advocates conference on Friday, November 11, 2022. The event was an informal plaintiff’s lawyer convention hosted by the Louisiana-based litigation team at Fishman Haygood.

• Co-Managing Partner David Kovel speaks at 22nd Annual Taxpayers Against Fraud Conference on October 26, 2022

  10/27/2022

  Co-Managing Partner David Kovel recently spoke at the 22nd annual Taxpayers Against Fraud (TAF) conference on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. TAF is a non-profit, public interest organization committed to supporting and encouraging whistleblowers who reveal fraud in government and financial markets.

• Partner Randall Fox quoted in Tax Notes article on Washington D.C. and New York tax whistleblower laws

  09/20/2022

  In a September article, KM partner Randall Fox is quoted sharing his expertise on tax whistleblower cases. Mr. Fox’s comments are included in an article in Tax Notes written by Andrea Muse regarding the first publicly-disclosed case filed under Washington D.C.’s False Claims Act (FCA).

• Partner Randall Fox’s Whistleblower Case under the False Claims Act Results in Indictment of Long Island Doctor

  08/02/2022

  New York Attorney General Letitia James is pursuing criminal charges that were first brought to light by a False Claims Act lawsuit filed by Kirby McInerney partner Randall Fox on behalf of a whistleblower client against a Queens, New York radiologist and his company.

• Kirby McInerney Partner Randall Fox Speaks on Federal Bar Association Roundtable on Tax Whistleblowing

  07/28/2022

  Partner Randall Fox spoke as a panelist during the Federal Bar Association Qui Tam Section Roundtable on Wednesday, July 27th, 2022. Mr. Fox was joined by Andrea Fischer, Robert Gardner, Michelle Merola, and Richard Neuworth as they discussed Tax Whistleblowing at the Federal and State Level.

• Randall Fox Comments to Law360 Regarding Passage of Tax Whistleblower False Claims Act Expansion

  06/07/2022

  ​Partner Randall Fox discussed with Law360 New York lawmakers' recent passage of an amendment to the New York False Claims Act to close a loophole in the state’s tax whistleblower law by permitting actions against corporations and wealthy individuals who knowingly fail to file New York tax returns. 

• Anthony F. Fata, Prominent Plaintiff’s Litigator in Commodities and Securities Litigation, Opens Kirby McInerney’s New Chicago Office - A veteran commodities lawyer at the very top of plaintiffs’ side litigation in Chicago 

  03/15/2022

  Kirby McInerney LLP has added Anthony F. Fata, a leading plaintiffs’ litigator in commodities, securities, and whistleblower matters, as a partner in the firm’s new Chicago office. 

• Kirby McInerney Announces Landmark CFTC Whistleblower Award Of Nearly $200 Million - The Firm's Whistleblower Client Helped Multiple Government Regulators Obtain Fines For Manipulation of Financial Benchmarks

  10/21/2021 | Business Wire

  The law firm of Kirby McInerney LLP announces that its whistleblower client has been awarded nearly $200 million by the whistleblower program of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”).  Today’s CFTC whistleblower award is the largest, publicly-announced single whistleblower award arising under the Dodd-Frank whistleblower reward programs (the CFTC and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”)) as well as under other whistleblower programs including the IRS and the federal and state false claims acts.

• Kirby McInerney's Randall Fox Named "Whistleblower Lawyer of the Year"

  10/15/2021 | Business Wire

  The law firm of Kirby McInerney LLP is pleased to announce that partner Randall Fox has been named the 2021 “Lawyer of the Year” by the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund (“TAFEF”), which is the leading public advocacy group for whistleblowers.

• Court Unseals Kirby McInerney Tax Whistleblower Case against Elite Headhunter Firm Egon Zehnder

  7/29/2021

  Bloomberg Tax reported on a whistleblower case filed by Kirby McInerney LLP in an article by reporter Michael Bologna entitled “New York Said to Be Cheated of Millions in Tax by Headhunter.”  The article can be found here. 

• NY Lawmakers OK Expanding Tax Whistleblower Law

  06/10/2021 | Law360 Tax Authority

  The New York Legislature passed a bill that would expand the state's False Claims Act to hold taxpayers liable for failing to file state returns, as opposed to only for providing false records.

• NY Panel OKs Bill To Expand Scope Of Tax Whistleblower Law

  04/27/2021 | Law360 Tax Authority

  A New York Senate committee advanced a bill that would expand the state's False Claims Act to hold taxpayers liable for failing to file state returns, as opposed to only for providing false records.

• Md. Lawmakers OK Bill For IRS-Like Whistleblower Plan

  04/14/2021 | Law360

  Maryland residents who suspect tax fraud would be able to tip off the state tax agency and receive a monetary reward if the agency recovered money, in an IRS-like program approved by state lawmakers and sent to the state's governor.

• Five Tax Whistleblowing Fallacies

  03/15/2021 | Bloomberg Tax

  In 2010, New York amended its False Claims Act to enable whistleblowers to sue individual and corporate defendants with a net income or sales exceeding $1 million that cheated on their taxes in excess of $350,000. Other states are considering similar legislation. Randall Fox of Kirby McInerney LLP debunks some common fallacies regarding the New York law.

• Kirby McInerney Announces $105 Million Settlement of NY Tax False Claims Act Whistleblower Case

  03/02/2021

  The law firm of Kirby McInerney LLP announced today a $105 million settlement in a case the firm filed on behalf of its whistleblower client against hedge fund billionaire Thomas Sandell and his business Sandell Asset Management Corporation.  The settlement is the largest income tax recovery under the New York False Claims Act.

• Kirby McInerney Calls on Whistleblowers to Combat Fraud in Connection with Coronavirus (Covid-19) Relief

  04/06/2020

  Wars and disasters generally bring forth the best in people – courage, heroism, solidarity.  Unfortunately, however, calamities also present irresistible opportunities for corruption and fraud among those who would take advantage.  Now, it is feared that the massive government spending that is being deployed to fight the coronavirus pandemic may spur new exploitative schemes, potentially diverting billions of dollars of government funds intended to help virus victims and stimulate the economy into the pockets of scammers. 

• Kirby McInerney Announces Settlement of a False Claims Act Whistleblower Suit against Compounding Pharmacy FPR Specialty Pharmacy and Its Owners

  04/02/2020

  Kirby McInerney LLP has settled a significant False Claims Act case on behalf of a whistleblower client against a compounding pharmacy FPR Specialty Pharmacy, its owners Christopher Casey and Billy Rue, and affiliated business Mead Square Pharmacy, all from the Rochester, New York area.

• California, Michigan, D.C. Eye Revenue From Tax Whistleblowers

  02/20/2020 | Bloomberg Tax

  Kirby McInerney Partner Randall Fox was quoted in this Bloomberg Tax article about tax-related false claims suits. California, Michigan, and the District of Columbia are considering bills that add tax code violations to the list of actionable frauds coming under their false claims laws. Mr. Fox notes that New York’s tax whistleblower law has resulted in “very stong and important cases.”

• JP Morgan Whistleblower Case Tests Unclaimed Property Compliance

  02/09/2020 | FinOps Report

  Unclaimed property operations and compliance managers at US financial firms will soon find out that the task is more difficult than they thought should JP Morgan Chase lose its appeal of a New York civil court judge’s ruling about the bank’s required interest payment on unclaimed accounts reported late to New York State.

• Kirby McInerney Settles Moody’s Captive Fraud Case

  01/09/2020 | Captive International

  Moody’s has reached a settlement with New York-based law firm Kirby McInerney after it was accused of underpaying New York State and New York City business taxes between 2002 and 2014. Moody’s is alleged to have mischaracterised its income as premiums to its captive, Moody’s Assurance Company (MAC).

• Treasure hunter helps companies, residents recover ‘lost’ money

  09/16/2019 | Crain’s New York Business

  Kirby McInerney Partner Randall Fox represents a whistleblower client in a case against JPMorgan Chase alleging that Chase held $60 million worth of unclaimed assets longer than it should have, depriving the state of about $12 million in interest income over roughly two years.

• JPMorgan Must Defend Claim It Saved Millions on Abandoned Assets

  09/03/2019 | Bloomberg Law

  JPMorgan Chase & Co. could be on the hook for millions in unpaid interest and penalties for delaying transfers of unclaimed property to the state of New York following a first-of-a-kind state court ruling.

• Sprint To Pay NY $330M In Tax FCA Case, $63M For Tipster

  12/21/2018 | Law360

  Mobile giant Sprint Corp. will pay $330 million to resolve a New York False Claims Act suit that accused the company of shirking $100 million in state taxes, with almost $63 million of that sum going to a whistleblower, the state attorney general said Friday.

• Spa Castle to fork over $2.5 million: AG

  08/30/2018 | Queens Chronicle

  Settling with the state, Spa Castle is going to pay $2.5 million in civil damages and criminal restitution over a tax fraud scheme, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood and Acting Department of Taxation and Finance Commissioner Nonie Manion announced last Thursday.  “This is a case where tax cheaters would have stayed under the radar had it not been for a brave whistleblower reporting on the fraud,” Randall Fox of Kirby McInerney LLP, one of the two attorneys who represented the source.

• Kirby McInerney Announces Landmark Appellate Decision Against Moody’s in a False Claims Act Case

  08/30/2018

  Kirby McInerney LLP has obtained a groundbreaking appellate decision against Moody’s Corporation, certain of its affiliates, and Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. under the New York State False Claims Act.

• Tax Qui Tams Reach Maturity

  03/07/2018 | Bloomberg Tax

  Thanks to 2010 amendments to New York’s False Claims Act, whistleblowers can receive incentive awards of 15 to 30 percent of the government's recovery for bringing actions — called “qui tam” actions — on behalf of the government to help recover tax monies lost by fraud.

• FCA Memo No Proof Of New DOJ Direction On Dismissals

  01/25/2018 | Law360

  A recently leaked memo setting out circumstances for when U.S. Department of Justice attorneys should use its rarely invoked authority to ask for “meritless” qui tam False Claims Act cases to be dismissed could foreshadow a more aggressive DOJ approach to dismissals, but proof will only come from seeing its future actions, attorneys said.

• U.S. Company Settles Whistleblower Lawsuit, Pays for Importer’s Customs Fraud

  01/15/2018 | Global Trade Magazine

  Kirby McInerney Partner Mark Strauss authored this article on a whistleblower lawsuit involving customs fraud.  Federal prosecutors in New York recently announced the settlement of a remarkable lawsuit relating to a scheme to evade import duties.  The case involved an importer’s undervaluation of apparel to pay less duties than were really owed.

• Tax Nonfilers Face Potential Liability Under New York FCA

  12/21/2017 | Law360

  A recent, little-noticed decision in the New York Supreme Court has confirmed that the tax provisions of New York’s False Claims Act apply not only to persons and companies that cheat on the tax returns they submit, but also to those who knowingly skirt their obligations by entirely failing to file any New York Tax returns.

• FCA Cases Protect Claims by Relying on NY’s Favorable Pleading Standard

  08/16/2017 | New York Law Journal

  Fraud-related claims usually must be pled with particularity. But in a little-noticed provision at the end of New York’s False Claims Act, Sec.192(1-a), the New York legislature provided for a lower pleading hurdle when asserting violations of New York’s FCA in state court.

• Trade Enforcement under Trump Likely to Involve Expanded Use of U.S. Whistleblower Statute

  07/25/2017 | Supply and Demand Chain Executive

  Kirby McInerney Partner Mark Strauss published an article in Supply and Demand Chain Executive regarding the use of U.S. Whistleblower laws under the current administration.

• Expect Increased Use of Whistleblower Law Under Trump

  07/03/2017 | Global Trade Magazine

  Kirby McInerney Partner Mark Strauss authored the attached editorial for Global Trade Magazine regarding whistleblower law under the current administration.

• 6 Years of Tax Qui Tams in New York

  06/06/2016 | TaxAnalysts

  In this viewpoint, Fox looks back at six years of New York tax enforcement through qui tam lawsuits. He concludes that the abuses predicted by opponents of the law have failed to materialize and that the statute, which allows tax recovery suits by private citizens, appears to have generated a good return on the investment. The full article is reproduced with permission of TaxAnalysts and is accessible on KM’s website.

• Law Firm of Kirby McInerney LLP Announces $1.5 Million Settlement Resolving Whistleblower Claims that Athletic Wear Company Underpaid U.S. Import Duties

  04/21/2016

  Kirby McInerney LLP is pleased to announce that its client, a Hong Kong-based whistleblower, helped the U.S. government recover $1.5 million in allegedly underpaid U.S. import duties from Winds Enterprises, Inc. of California, and its affiliate, Winds Enterprises, Ltd. of Hong Kong, which manufacture and import athletic wear for popular brands in the United States.

• Qui Tam Plaintiffs’ Bar Expects Increase in New York Whistle-Blower Cases

  12/29/2015 | Bloomberg BNA

  Bloomberg BNA quoted Kirby McInerney partner Randall M. Fox, former New York Attorney General Bureau Chief, in an article addressing a high profile whistle-blower tax case against Sprint Nextel Corp. for the company’s alleged failure to collect and pay sales taxes on flat-rate calling plans, and why the plaintiffs’ bar expects more of these types of cases to be filed.

• Tax Fraud and the FCA: 4 Takeaways From NY’s Sprint Ruling

  11/03/2015 | Law360

  Kirby McInerney Partner Randall Fox published an article in Law360 discussing a whistleblower False Claims Act case against Sprint Corp. for failing to collect and pay more than $100 million in New York state and local sales taxes on its flat-rate monthly cell phone charges.

• Kirby McInerney Partner Randall Fox Gives Presentation at the False Claims Act and Qui Tam Seminar presented by the Northern District of New York Federal Court Bar Association

  04/22/2015

  Partner Randall Fox made a presentation on the perspective of whistleblowers to the “False Claims and Qui Tam Seminar” put on by the CLE Committee of the Northern District of New York’s Federal Court Bar Association. Mr. Fox’s presentation addressed how whistleblowers who bring forward claims that the government was victimized by fraud can best present their cases and some of the legal issues that must be considered by whistleblower’s counsel. With his presentation, Mr. Fox circulated an outline of the disclosures that whistleblowers should make to government enforcement agents, a copy of which is available on KM’s website.

• Kirby McInerney Partner Randall Fox Gives Presentation to the Multistate Tax Commission about Tax Whistleblowers

  01/12/2015

  Partner Randall Fox made a presentation to the Class Action and False Claims Act Work Group of the Multistate Tax Commission, addressing the options states have for drafting laws that give incentives to citizens to report on tax frauds.

• Presenting a False Claims Act Case: Back to Basics

  12/09/2014 | New York Law Journal

  False Claims Act cases focus on situations where the government has been victimized by fraud. A whistleblower who invokes the act first presents the case to government enforcement authorities who decide either to intervene and take up the case, or decline and allow the whistleblower to proceed on the government’s behalf.

• Qui Tam Troubles, Part IV: Does New York Have the Answer?

  07/07/2014 | taxnotes

  This is the final article in a series on qui tam suits. This article discusses New York’s approach to tax fraud suits, which is being heralded as a possible model for both state and federal regimes.

• The Case for Qui Tam Tax Claims: Former New York Attorney General Bureau Chief Randall Fox Tells Why States Should Lift Their Bar

  06/06/2014 | Bloomberg BNA

  On June 6, 2014, Bloomberg BNA published its interview with partner Randall M. Fox, former New York Attorney General Bureau Chief, on why states should lift their bar on qui tam tax claims.

• Kirby McInerney Adds N.Y.’s Ex-Top Whistleblower Lawyer

  04/08/2014 | Bloomberg

  On April 8, 2014, Bloomberg reported the addition of new partner Randall Fox to Kirby McInerney. Mr. Fox was previously the founding head of the Taxpayer Protection Bureau in New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office.

• Randall Fox, Recent Bureau Chief of the New York Attorney General’s Taxpayer Protection Bureau, Joins Kirby McInerney’s Whistleblower Practice

  04/07/2014

  Kirby McInerney LLP announced today that it has enhanced its whistleblower practice by adding Randall M. Fox as a partner based in its New York office. Mr. Fox recently served as the founding Bureau Chief of the New York Attorney General’s Taxpayer Protection Bureau, where he primarily prosecuted whistleblower actions concerning claims of fraud against the government.

• Proposed IRS Whistleblower Rules Could Undermine FATCA, Critics Argue

  02/12/2013 | The Wall Street Journal

  The U.S. Treasury has weathered complaints over the reach of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which aims to prevent international tax evasion, but some critics say the law could be weakened by changes to whistleblower rules proposed by another bureau of the department: the Internal Revenue Service.

• Whistleblower-Based Actions Contribute to Ramped Up Enforcement of Anti-Bribery Statute

  04/04/2012 | SeekingAlpha

  The government​’s ramped up enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is being fueled by an important new source of leads: SEC whistleblowers.

• Kirby McInerney LLP Announces $3.85 Million Settlement of Whistleblower Case Against Jewelry Importers Engaged in Customs Fraud Scheme

  09/01/2011

  Kirby McInerney LLP today has announced the $3.85 million settlement of a whistleblower lawsuit relating to a decade-long customs fraud scheme conducted by a Hong-Kong based jewelry manufacturer and its affiliates. The action was filed by Kirby McInerney under the False Claims Act on behalf of its client, a whistleblower who learned about the fraudulent conduct.

• The S.E.C.’s New Whistleblower Program, Which Takes Effect August 12th, Should Help it Get Ahead of Scandals Rather than Playing Catch-up. But Will Budget Cuts Impair its Ability to Follow up on Tips?

  08/01/2011 | SeekingAlpha

  The S.E.C.’s new whistleblower rules, recently adopted pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, take effect August 12th. Under them, the S.E.C. is required to pay whistleblowers bounty awards for information leading to enforcement actions that result in monetary recoveries of over $1 million.

• The Coming New Age Of Whistleblower Lawsuits

  11/05/2010 | Forbes

  The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is now law.

• Kirby McInerney LLP Announces New Financial Whistleblower Group

  08/09/2010

  Following President Obama’s July 21st signing of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law, the Law Firm of Kirby McInerney LLP has announced its formation of a focused Financial Whistleblower Litigation Group.