News Coverage

Whistleblower law specialist Phillips & Cohen LLP fielded the most false claims cases of any plaintiffs firm over the past five years, while Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP was defendants’ most frequent choice, according to a new report.
Of 2,429 publicly visible false claims cases filed in federal court between 2016 and 2020, Phillips & Cohen represented whistleblowers in 38 of those cases, according to Lex Machina’s False Claims Litigation Report 2021, its first-ever...

Operators of hotels in several states have asked New York and Florida federal courts to rule that they can participate in the Paycheck Protection Program without fear of triggering a default on prior loans whose terms forbid taking on more debt.
In a pair of complaints filed separately Friday against U.S. Bank NA and Wilmington Trust NA, the hotel operators said they're desperate for the aid but are concerned about possible repercussions for their existing loans, which are held in...

Freedom Mortgage Corp. lost separate bids to escape two putative class actions over allegedly unsolicited phone calls when a New Jersey federal judge ruled Thursday that the customers’ lawsuits supported their claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle denied Freedom Mortgage’s motions to dismiss the proposed class actions alleging in part that the New Jersey-based business made such calls using an automatic telephone dialing...

Hunton & Williams LLP has become the latest law firm to settle allegations that it aided Robert Allen Stanford’s $7 billion Ponzi scheme, inking a $34 million deal that would benefit some of Stanford’s thousands of victims.
With Stanford now five years into a 110-year federal prison sentence, ​Hunton's ​big-dollar settlement is a significant step in a swarm of suits that arose from the 2009 collapse of Stanford International Bank and other companies Stanford...

A phone-sex worker filed a collective action against her employer Tele Pay USA in California federal court Tuesday, claiming the company has violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by paying her less than minimum wage, no overtime and shorting her for “off-the-clock” work.
At best, the suit claims, women who talk for Tele Pay, like lead plaintiff Anne Cannon, make $6 per hour. If their average call times drop below six minutes, their hourly rate drops to $4.20 per hour, the suit...

Texas bankruptcy court’s ruling Tuesday that found billionaire Sam Wyly and his late brother intentionally skirted taxes through a network of complex offhore accounts serves as a cautionary tale for those seeking to use professional advice as a shield for tax evasion penalties.
In a more than 400page ruling, U.S. Bankruptcy Chief Judge Barbara J. Houser rejected the Wyly brothers’ defense that they could hide behind the advice of tax lawyers and other professionals to funnel...

Novum Structures LLC will pay $3 million to settle criminal and civil False Claims Act allegations in Wisconsin federal court that it falsified documents to hide the improper use of foreign materials on construction projects funded with federal dollars, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday.
The Wisconsin-based manufacturer of glass space frames — found in roofs and atriums — agreed to plead guilty to a single count of concealing a material fact and fork over $500,000 in...

The owner of Dana Transport Inc. accused PNC Bank, Wells Fargo & Co. and others of costing him more than $500 million with a scheme that thrust the trucking company into default on a loan even though it was current on payments, according to a racketeering suit filed in New York on Thursday...

Two homeowners have told a New York federal court that Wells Fargo & Co. and Ocwen Financial Corp. illegally collected payments on mortgages they fraudulently declared in default, according to a False Claims Act suit made available Tuesday.Originally filed under seal in September 2014, plaintiffs Mr. and Mrs. Schiano claim the companies diverted a payoff they had made for refinancing their home and told the loan’s owner, government sponsored entity Freddie Mac, that the pair had...

Threats of U.S. prosecution loom over HSBC Holdings PLC due to reports that it helped clients hide cash from various tax authorities, and to avoid paying historic penalties like competitor Credit Suisse AG, the bank may want to show that it redoubled reform efforts after entering a corporate compliance monitorship.
The reports are the latest round of bad press for the British bank, which in 2012 agreed to pay the U.S. a $1.9 billion penalty and acquire a monitor over its alleged role in...