Columbia University published its Institutional Policy on Misconduct in Research in 2006.  It provides that “all reasonable and practical efforts” will be made to protect a complainant from retaliation if the person files a good faith complaint about fabrication or falsification in research.  In 2014, the University also adopted a “Non-Retaliation Policy” to prohibit retaliation against individuals who report possible ethical or compliance issues in good faith.  The policy was specifically intended “to encourage” members of the community to report their concerns.

An appellate court in Pennsylvania has approved a trial court decision awarding income from a charitable trust to a conversion foundation created upon the sale of a local nonprofit hospital.  It denied the claim by another beneficiary that the income should be divided among three churches also benefiting from the trust.

The New York Attorney General’s office has filed a complaint against an accounting firm and its founder for fraudulently providing unqualified financial statements for a charity closed down by the state.  The complaint says that McEnerney, Brady & Co. and its founder Edmond Brady “facilitated a multi-year scheme of fraudulent not-for-profit conduct by falsifying [the charity’s] financial statements.”

A federal District Court in Washington has abstained from a suit brought by a for-profit business that pays charities to help solicit used goods that the business resells for a profit.  The business complained that the state Attorney General had violated its free speech rights under the Constitution by dictating its contractual relationship with the charities and mandating disclosure of its contractual payment terms.

“Boorish and insulting behavior” toward other members of the board of directors of a nonprofit corporation does not constitute sufficient grounds for judicial removal of the director under the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Corporation Law, the state Commonwealth Court has held.  While calling the conduct “deplorable,” it said it does not constitute grounds for court intervention in the nonprofit’s governance.

The former board president of a nonprofit mental health clinic in Philadelphia has been ordered by a federal District Court to forfeit $2,041,750 in funds she improperly acquired from the Clinic for her personal benefit.  She had previously been convicted on 53 counts of fraud, theft and false statements on tax returns for her various schemes.

Renee Tartaglione became the president of the Juniata Community Mental Health Clinic and engineered an elaborate scheme to siphon funds from the agency, which is spelled out in detail in the Court’s opinion.