- Press Release from the New York Attorney General, November 27, 2018 (“We are grateful to the whistleblower who helped bring this illegal conduct to light and are pleased to be able to give back the money rightfully owed to Hudson Valley customers.”)
- Stipulation and Settlement Agreement, November 21, 2018
- Bottini Fuel Defrauded Customers, Owes $3.2M in Restitution, Damages: Attorney General, Poughkeepsie Journal, November 27, 2018 (“Getnick & Getnick, which represented the whistleblower, highlighted the case as the first whistleblower case in the state that ‘led to a recovery for individuals.’”)
- Bottini Fuel to Pay $3.2M After Defrauding Customers, Times Herald-Record, November 27, 2018 (“In keeping with the False Claims Act, the whistleblower will get a percentage of the government’s recovery, $491,358 for bringing the fraud to light.”)
- Fuel Firm That Cheated Customers Owes $3.2M After Guilty Plea, Mid-Hudson Valley Patch, November 27, 2018 (“The civil and criminal investigations began in 2015 after a whistleblower filed an action pursuant to the qui tam provisions of the New York False Claims Act.”)
- Bottini Fuel Admits Falsifying Records, Will Pay $3.3M in Restitution and Damages, Daily Freeman, November 27, 2018
- Bottini Fuel Fraud Victims: 5 Things to Know to Claim Money and More, Poughkeepsie Journal, November 29, 2018 (“An anonymous whistleblower represented by Getnick & Getnick reported Bottini Fuel in 2015.”)
- Heating Oil Company Case Highlights a New Take on the False Claims Act, WAMC Midday Magazine, November 29, 2018 (Neil Getnick: “[W]e also were able, working together with the attorney general’s office, to fashion a parallel remedy resulting from a criminal conviction . . . allowing private citizens and private entities to get full restitution.”)
Consumer Fraud Case Study
Getnick Law secured a settlement in New York’s first ever whistleblower case leading to a criminal restitution recovery for individual consumer fraud victims.
New York False Claims Act Lawsuit Protects Consumers
Getnick Law brought a qui tam lawsuit under the New York State False Claims Act on behalf of a whistleblower against Morgan Fuel & Heating Co. Inc., also known as Bottini Fuel Co., a company that provides heating oil throughout the Hudson Valley. The lawsuit alleged that from 2004 to 2016 Bottini Fuel did not inform customers that they had overpaid for heating oil; instead, the company swept excess customer balances out of customer accounts and utilized these proceeds to benefit its owners and employees. Victims included individual homeowners, business customers, local schools, prisons, towns, and state agencies. According to the settlement, the biggest victims of the fraud scheme included Taconic Developmental Disabilities Services Organization ($281,630), the Greenhaven Correctional Facility ($145,957), Rondout Valley Central School District ($83,044) and Beacon City School District ($10,375). Towns that received restitution included Saugerties, Blooming Grove, Monroe, Hunter, Wappinger, and Stanford.
As a result of the lawsuit, and the parallel criminal prosecution and conviction, New York State recovered $3.2 million from Bottini Fuel, including over a million dollars in restitution to private-sector and individual victims. The whistleblower, whose identity remains protected, received 23.5% of the government’s recovery, the then-largest percentage award for any New York State False Claims Act case not involving Medicaid.
Getnick Law partners Richard Dircks, Margaret Finerty, and Neil Getnick worked closely with the Attorney General’s Office in the successful prosecution and resolution of this case.