News for Brian Mahany

In 2016, a New Yorker reporter noted that contractors outnumbered U.S. troops three to one in Afghanistan. Part of the reason for this was that moving around on the ground was so dangerous in Afghanistan that our government basically paid local people to risk their lives, for example, by driving trucks and transporting materials for the U.S. military.

“The jobs were dangerous—more contractors had been killed so far that year than U.S. soldiers—but the payoff was substantial,” The New Yorker stated. “Between 2007 and 2014, the U.S. spent eighty-nine billion dollars on contracting in Afghanistan.”

But in an impoverished war zone, U.S. military contracts have inevitably led to large-scale corruption, and as several lawsuits now allege, the result has often been that our country has indirectly funded its own enemies.

Trucking contractors in Afghanistan, for example, were described in a House Committee report as fueling “a vast protection racket run by a shadowy network of warlords, strongmen, commanders, corrupt Afghan officials, and perhaps others,” adding that “protection payments for safe passage [were] a significant potential source of funding for the Taliban.” ...

The House Intelligence Committee hears from Inspector General Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community watchdog who first fielded the whistleblower complaint that launched the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Brian Mahany, a lawyer who represents whistleblowers around the nation, explains the importance of confidentiality in preserving the whistleblower process.
Eight former Inspectors General write: "Whistleblowers are a vital component of oversight in addressing serious...

There's lots of noise and confusion in the world of government and politics today. Here's one less thing you need to be confused about—what whistleblower means and where the term comes from.
One of the many political questions you’ve been too embarrassed to ask is what the word “whistleblower” means. In today’s political climate, it’s one of many phrases you hear and read often, but you might not fully understand what it means. Here’s everything...

Brian Mahany, an expert on federal whistleblower laws and successful qui tam (whistleblower's lawsuits) lawyer, is slated to keynote the MENSA AG (Annual Gathering) July 6th at the Sheraton Conference Center in downtown Phoenix, Arizona.
Conference attendees, all members of the MENSA ultra- high IQ society, will attend Mahany's presentation on a whistleblower's legal options and rewards.
According to Mahany, bestselling author of Saints, Sinners & Heroes – Covert Ops in...

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling has just set a crucial precedent for whistleblowers. Individuals willing to file lawsuits under the False Claims Act will now have four more years to do it.
A unanimous ruling in the case identified as Cochise Consultancy v. U.S. ex. rel. Hunt, held that whistleblowers can take advantage of an extended statute of limitations.
Under the False Claims Act, relators can file suit either within six years of the alleged violations or three years after...

Samantha Wu had high hopes when she left her small town in southern China to study at an American university. But she didn’t expect to be under investigation by the University of Maryland after a professor accused her and other Chinese students of cheating on an exam. Wu denies the accusation.
Wu is one of a number of Chinese students who reported that U.S. professors said their nationality made them more likely to cheat. But some professors insist they see many instances of Chinese...

The Problem It’s no secret that inefficiencies bog down the American healthcare system. Despite spending 50% more per capita on healthcare compared to the top 10 developed countries, the United States ranks dead last in overall healthcare performance. It has been estimated that over $765 billion a year in healthcare is wasted due to inefficient logistics, fraud, and unnecessary services. The FBI has also disclosed that fraudulent medical bills cost the industry up to $260 billion in...

Starwood Capital Group made a big bet on the U.S. retail market in November 2013. Barry Sternlicht’s private equity firm bought a 90 percent stake in seven malls from Westfield Group for $1.6 billion through an affiliated company.
Located in towns like Toledo, Ohio, and Olympia, Washington, the malls were filled with national brands and boasted an average occupancy rate of 96 percent — the kind of properties considered a very safe bet at the time.
But the retail market...

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...

Nowadays, whistleblowers are very much in the news. It was complaints from whistleblowers that precipitated the resignation of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. July 30 has been designated by the U.S. Senate as “National Whistle Blower Appreciation Day.”
But being a whistleblower is often not appreciated at the time the whistle is blown.
Martin Edwin Andersen is one example. Andersen has been a whistleblower for much of his life, repeatedly...