Supreme Court to decide who is a protected whistle-blower in corporate America

The Supreme Court is set to decide whether corporate whistle-blowers are protected from being fired if they disclose wrongdoing to company officials rather than to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

At issue in the case to be argued Tuesday is the scope of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform act, which aimed to encourage whistle-blowers and prevent the kind of retaliation seen against those who tried to sound an alarm at Lehman Bros. and other firms that collapsed during the Great Recession. read more »

Why Credit Suisse Isn't Paying Ex-Executive Her $10 Million Fee

Credit Suisse Group AG refused to pay a finder’s fee to a former employee for bringing in new business because the bank said it discovered that she was classified as a Russian government official.

Yana Alexandroff is suing for more than $10 million, saying the decision not to pay her was “capricious, wrongful and unjust.” She says Credit Suisse was wrong to label her a government official.

But the bank says in its court filings that when its due diligence checks revealed her non-executive director role, it couldn’t pay her because Tatfondbank was part-owned by the Russian government. That meant she was “classified as a government official” under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 1977, Credit Suisse said, and would’ve made it illegal to pay her a fee. read more »

Prison for Role in $35 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme

The former general counsel of a company that operates health maintenance organizations in several states was sentenced to six months in prison today for his role in a $35 million health care fraud scheme. read more »