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A Knoxville financial adviser has accused Morgan Stanley of retaliation following his action as a whistleblower. He was terminated on allegations of receiving kickback after the employer came to know about his actions in exposing SOW violations and insider trading, claims the Tennessee false claims attorney representing the whistleblower. The state law assures protection to the whistleblowers from any kind of reprisal.
Filed in February, the Tennessee whistleblower lawsuit cites several instances where John Verble helped the Securities and Exchange Commission with information about insider trading by some of his colleagues. The whistleblower also claims that he is the “Confidential Human Source 1,” as mentioned in the FBI records, who helped the investigators probing discrepancies in a fuel fraud scheme known as the Pilot Flying J investigation in May 2011.
Verble has claimed to expose criminal activity at Knoxville office of Morgan Stanley that he joined in 2006 and “wear a wire for more than a year to record conversations with a Pilot employee.”
Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, has termed his allegations as “rhetoric and misplaced whistleblower aspirations aside” and justified his termination on the ground that he took “six-figure kickbacks” from a sports agent. Verble’s Tennessee whistleblower lawyer says it was “gift for his daughter.”
The whistleblower was interrogated by his superiors in May 2013 about his cooperation with federal investigators after a colleague spotted him meeting with FBI agents, according the lawsuit.
TN Whistleblower Complaint Leads to Investigation
A Tennessee false claim lawsuit has led to investigations against road-building major Jones Brothers. Filed in 2012 by a former employee, the whistleblower lawsuit alleged the company and its affiliates used fraudulent means and false representations to get “projects that would not have been awarded to such primary contractors or alternatively no federal funding would have been provided for the project” between 2007 and 2012.
The FBI investigation came after the court set the latest deadline by June. The defendant “named a minority-owned firm in its contract, but instead did work the subcontractor (G&M Associates) was supposed to do, even going as far as to cover the company logo on their trucks with the minority-owned contractor’s logo and the primary contractors obtained various contracts fraudulently, aided and abetted by G&M,” says the FBI warrant.
The Tennessee false claim lawsuit came at a time when the federal government is has been strict in punishing those involved in procurement fraud. If proved, Jones Brothers may be directed to deposit three-time more money than such alleged fraudulent contracts involve along with a penalty of $11,000 for each instance of deceit.
Court Sets Disclosure Bar for TN False Claim Lawsuits
The Sixth Circuit has delineated the extent of public disclosure of information for use to file false claim lawsuits in Tennessee. In 2006, a whistleblower complaint accused Erlanger Medical Center of fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid billings. The hospital refunded $500,000 to close the federal investigation against it in 2008.
A qui tam lawsuit was initiated two years later based on internal administrative reports. The hospital moved court seeking its dismissal on the ground of already being a public disclosure. Even the government refused to participate. The plaintiff continued with his Tennessee false claims attorney.
The circuit court ruled that “the FCA does not bar jurisdiction over qui tam actions based on disclosures of allegations or transactions to the government.” It held that internal government disclosures arrived at through prior probe did not amount to public disclosure and allowed the complainant to proceed with his lawsuit.
The judgment came within six months of a federal court in Tennessee allowing use of statistical sampling to determine overall damage and liability in false claim lawsuits.
For false claims free case evaluation, please call on 1-800-632-1404 to consult our expert false claims attorney in Tennessee.
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We help whistleblowers on a contingency basis, meaning there is no fee charged for our work unless there is a recovery. We also front any and all expenses. No matter where you are located — we will represent you. We will come to you, you will not have to come to us. Attorneys in our firm and attorneys that we work with on Whistleblower, Qui Tam, False Claims Act cases have represented a host of persons making claims, for violations of federal tax law, Medicare law and more. For more information, please contact our team of whitsleblower and qui tam attorneys today.
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