The False Claims Act is a piece of legislation from the U.S. Congress that allows any individual with knowledge of a fraud being perfected against any agency of the U.S. Government to file a claim on behalf of the Government against the individual or business that has or is committing such fraud. The individual filing such claim on behalf of the United States Government is identified as the qui tam plaintiff and, if the action is successful, such person is entitled to share in a percentage of the recovery against the fraudulent person or business. This is supported by the reading, “The federal government’s main weapon in the so-called war on fraud and abuse is the False Claims Act (FCA)” (Showalter, 2017, pg.553). The
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There should be supporting evidence to corroborate the whistleblower’s accusations and convince an impartial party there is a good reason to believe that if this information is made public, it will result in positive changes. Whistleblowing should also seek to protect the clients and make sure they are not on the receiving end of any …show more content…
The rationale for this type of damage award structure is to serve not only as compensation for the fraud but also to serve as a punishment to the defendant and as a warning to others. The qui tam plaintiff in such actions can expect to share in the damage award. The amount of such sharing is dependent on the status of the plaintiff in prosecuting the action. In the event that the Justice Department took over the prosecution of the action, the plaintiff can expect to receive between 15 and 25 percent of the recovery. In cases where the qui tam plaintiff prosecuted the case the plaintiff can expect to receive between 25 to 30 percent of the total recovery. When discussing whistleblowers, private citizens have also proven to be a critical resources of the government in that these individuals bring to light evidence pertaining to fraud that would have otherwise gone undetected. More than one-half of the $48 billion recovered since 1986 has come from False Claims Act lawsuits initiated by whistleblowers. These same whistleblowers have been paid upwards of $5.3 billion in statutory rewards for filing False Claims Act cases on behalf of the United States
There should be supporting evidence to corroborate the whistleblower’s accusations and convince an impartial party there is a good reason to believe that if this information is made public, it will result in positive changes. Whistleblowing should also seek to protect the clients and make sure they are not on the receiving end of any …show more content…
The rationale for this type of damage award structure is to serve not only as compensation for the fraud but also to serve as a punishment to the defendant and as a warning to others. The qui tam plaintiff in such actions can expect to share in the damage award. The amount of such sharing is dependent on the status of the plaintiff in prosecuting the action. In the event that the Justice Department took over the prosecution of the action, the plaintiff can expect to receive between 15 and 25 percent of the recovery. In cases where the qui tam plaintiff prosecuted the case the plaintiff can expect to receive between 25 to 30 percent of the total recovery. When discussing whistleblowers, private citizens have also proven to be a critical resources of the government in that these individuals bring to light evidence pertaining to fraud that would have otherwise gone undetected. More than one-half of the $48 billion recovered since 1986 has come from False Claims Act lawsuits initiated by whistleblowers. These same whistleblowers have been paid upwards of $5.3 billion in statutory rewards for filing False Claims Act cases on behalf of the United States