University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

Taking an Ethical Stand:  The Stories of Two Corporate WhistleblowersTuesday, March 11, 2008
James AldersonJim Alderson, CPA, was the first of more than two dozen whistleblowers to file cases against Columbia-HCA and its affiliates, resulting in the biggest health care fraud case in history.  Mr. Alderson was the Chief Financial Officer of the Quorum Health Group in Whitefish, Montana when it was acquired by Columbia-HCA.  It quickly became clear to Mr. Alderson that Columbia-HCA’s accounting practices involved keeping two sets of books.  Nine days after calling those accounting practices into question, Mr. Alderson was fired.  It was while working on a wrongful termination lawsuit that Mr. Alderson began investigating Columbia-HCA’s accounting practices.  Mr. Alderson eventually filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Quorum for its Medicare billing practices.  The lawsuit was settled for $95.5 million, and led to other whistleblower lawsuits against Columbia-HCA.  These other lawsuits resulted in two other settlements of $840 million and $631 million.  An accounting graduate of Montana State University, Mr. Alderson speaks nationwide on health care compliance issues.

John W. SchillingJohn W. Schilling, CPA, a former reimbursement specialist for Columbia/HCA, was one of the principal whistleblowers that resulted in the largest False Claims Act fraud settlement in history, involving 30 U.S. attorneys, 22 FBI field offices, and inspectors general from multiple federal agencies.  Mr. Schilling provided the government with a laundry list of frauds perpetrated by Columbia-HCA, and also filed a False Claim Act case against KPMG-Peat Marwick, which had advised six hospitals owned by a Columbia-HCA predecessor to set up reserve funds in case the inflated costs they were reporting were discovered in a Medicare audit.  KPMG settled its case for $9 million while Columbia-HCA settled a wide range of fraud allegations for a combined total of $1.7 billion, plus an additional criminal fines.  Mr. Schilling is a founding partner of EthicSolutions LLC, which provides consultation services in all areas of health care fraud and abuse.  His forthcoming book “Undercover:  How I Went from Company Man to FBI Spy – and Exposed the Worst Healthcare Fraud in U.S. History” (Amacom Books), will be published in April 2008.  Mr. Schilling is an accounting graduate of UWM’s Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business.

Insights from a Reformed White Collar Criminal
Thursday, February 14, 2008
 

Walter PavloNationally recognized speaker, Co-author of Stolen Without a Gun: Confessions From Inside the Largest Accounting Fraud in History; The Collapse of MCI/WorldCom

As a senior manager with MCI, Mr. Pavlo was responsible for $1 billion in billing and collection. With the help of two associates, he was able to defraud seven customers a total of $6 million in six months. In 2001, he cooperated with the federal government and pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering. His story made the front cover of Forbes magazine in 2002, just weeks before WorldCom revealed over $7 billion in accounting irregularities.

Integrating Business Ethics throughout the Curriculum: Some Advice on Exploring the Ethics of Business Issues, Student Debates, and Environment ManagementApril 18, 2007
Professor Denis CollinsEdgewood College

Professor Collins is a well-know and well-regarded business ethicist, having published and spoken widely on the topic in both academic and popular outlets. He led UWM business faculty and Ph.D. students in a discussion on how to engage students in the discussion of ethical issues within the framework of standard business courses. He stressed the importance of recognizing and addressing ethical issues within each business area’s subject matter in order for student’s to approach their future work more ethically, rather than treating ethics as a subject matter separate from areas such as accounting, marketing, and management.

Professor Collins also met with students in the Business and Society course and led them through an analysis of the Enron case.