CFTC Announces Approximately $7 Million Whistleblower Award

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it will award approximately $7 million to a whistleblower.  Relevant information from the whistleblower’s account of the misconduct led the CFTC to investigate and ultimately find a violation of the Commodity Exchange Act.

The CFTC has paid out more than $90 million in awards since establishing the Whistleblower Program under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.  CFTC enforcement actions associated with whistleblower awards have resulted in more than $730 million in sanctions to date.

Whistleblower awards can range from 10 to 30 percent of the monetary penalty collected in actions where the amount of sanctions ordered exceeds $1 million.  These awards are funded by the CFTC’s Customer Protection Fund, established by Congress and financed entirely through sanctions paid to the CFTC by violators of the CEA. The CFTC does not take or withhold any money from victims to fund the program. read more »

CFTC Charges Individual with Multi-Million Dollar Bitcoin Fraud

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today charged Jon Barry Thompson of Easton, Pennsylvania, with knowingly or recklessly making false representations to customers in connection with the purported purchase of bitcoin worth over $7 million.  In a complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the CFTC alleges that contrary to Thompson’s false representations, neither he nor a company with which he was affiliated had possession or control of the bitcoin that was to be delivered to the customers.  The complaint alleges that bitcoin was never delivered to the customers and customer funds were not safeguarded as promised. This case is brought in connection with the CFTC Division of Enforcement Virtual Currencies Task Force. read more »

DOJ charges 35 people in $2.1B Medicare genetic testing fraud scheme

he Department of Justice unveiled charges Friday against 35 people, alleging a variety of telemedicine and cancer genetic testing laboratories (CGx) took part in a scheme that referred seniors for medically unnecessary tests, costing Medicare $2.1 billion.

In tandem, CMS announced it took adverse administrative action against CGx testing companies and providers who filed more than $1.7 billion in claims to Medicare.

The action comes after the HHS Office of Inspector General warned the public in June of an ongoing genetic testing scam in which Medicare beneficiaries were offered "free" genetic tests as a way to gather their personal data for identity theft or fraudulent billing. read more »

New York congressman resigns ahead of insider trading plea

Chris Collins, a Republican U.S. congressman from New York state, resigned on Monday ahead of his expected guilty plea in a criminal insider trading case.

Collins, 69, is scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal that day to enter his guilty plea, court records show. Collins’ son, Cameron Collins, and another man, Stephen Zarsky, are also scheduled to plead guilty in the case on Thursday.

The criminal case relates to Australian biotechnology company Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd, a company for which Chris Collins sat on the board and held a 16.8% stake. read more »