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A San Antonio whistle blower has settled her claim against JP Morgan Chase Bank.  Linda Almonte, who had been a Team Leader in the local office reported wrongdoing to higher-ups and was subsequently fired.  See San Antonio Express News report.  She was fired Nov. 30, 2009 after she made her report.  A year later, she filed a whistle blower complaint with the Securities Exchange Commission.  She had accused Chase of fraud and gross neglect in the packaging and selling of delinquent credit card accounts.  She found that the information used to process the claims and start collection efforts was not accurate.  Affidavits are required to be based on personal knowledge and these affidavits were not.  She found that she could not verify the amounts owed or verify some of the judgments. 

The Express News report says whistle blowers can gain up to 30% of any government recovery.  

As with many whistle blowers and others who file suit against an employer, she lost her home here in San Antonio.  She and her family had to move to Florida to stay with friends.  She still has not found employment and is performing volunteer work.  She has been interviewed by 60 Minutes - that segment has not yet appeared on the television.  She has been interviewed by other news outlets.  

The Express News report says her lawsuit was settled.  The suit was based on Ms. Almonte being asked to commit an illegal act - that suit sounds like a Sabine Pilot lawsuit.  But, recovering 30% if the government recovers some money suggests a qui tam lawsuit.  So, Ms. Almonte may have more than one claim on file.  

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The federal government has settled a case against a longtime San Antonio medical group.  Kellum Family Medical Practice Associates was accused of falsely billing the federal government.  The lawsuit, a qui tam lawsuit, also known as a whistle blower lawsuit, started when a former employee claimed the Kellum clinic submitted false bills for medicare and medicaid patients.  The former employee, Julie Hajek Stewart, claimed the practice was billing at physician rates for work performed by non-physicians.  

The Kellums denied the allegations but they have settled.  Qui tam lawsuits work like this one did: a former employee files the initial lawsuit.  The US Attorney's office then joins the lawsuit if it thinks the evidence is strong enough.  The US Attorney joined this lawsuit sometime back and have now reached an agreed settlement.  The employee will get 10-25% of the settlement, says the San Antonio Express News.  See report.  Typically, settlements in qui tam cases are in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. 

The Kellum family practice operates 10 clinics, with 6 in San Antonio.  They deny liability but have settled.  The settlement amount has not been disclosed, yet.  As part of the settlement, the Kellums will enter into a corporate integrity agreement, which essentially amounts to a five year probation. 

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 A South Texas hospital will pay $27.5 million to the U.S. Justice department as part of a settlement of claims that the hospital, South Texas Health Systems, bilked money from the US government.  The allegations include charges that the hospital entered into a kick-back scheme with various doctors.  The plan was that the hospital would provide indirect payments to doctors who referred patients to the hospital chain.   This was a  qui tam lawsuit.  It started with a report by a former South Texas Health Systems employee, Bruce Moilan, in 2005.  Mr. Moilan will receive $5.5 million as part of the settlement.  See the San Antonio Express News story. 

 "Qui tam" lawsuits refer to claims based on the False Claims Act.  Under the False Claims Act, a person who reports fraud, waste or abuse is paid some monies if the report leads to a recovery of monies owed to the federal government.  If someone bilks the federal government, as South Texas Health Systems allegedly did, then private citizens who assist the government in recovery of that money receive a share of the recovery.  The False Claims Act was first passed soon after the Civil War.  It was passed in response to the massive fraud committed against the federal government in purchasing supplies and equipment for the war effort.  Today, medicare and medicaid fraud is a large part of the qui tam lawsuits being filed.  

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