What is The False Claims Act
President Abraham Lincoln signed the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. §§3729-2733 on March 2, 1862. Since the FCA was signed into law it has become the most successful anti-fraud act in the United States. In 1986, major changes were made to the FCA, which increased damages significantly for these cases. According to the DOJ, the FCA has helped to recovery over $72 billion in fraud between 1986 and 2022, and reports by whistleblowers are responsible for over 70% of recovered assets. In 2022 alone, whistleblowers were responsible for recovering $1.9 billion of the $2.2 billion recovered through False Claims Act Cases. There are now around 600 new whistleblower cases annually.
One of the most important aspects of the False Claims Act are the qui tam, or whistleblower, provision. It allows any individual or non-governmental organization to file a False Claims Act lawsuit on behalf of the United States Government. The government is required to investigate all whistleblower claims and can either “intervene” and proceed with the case or decline, in which case the whistleblower may proceed with the action.
Former U.S. Assistant Attorney General, Stewart Delery called the FCA’s qui tam provision “the most powerful tool the American people have to protect the government from fraud”. While a large portion of this taxpayer recovery is returned to the government, whistleblowers are awarded significant amounts of the settlement for their bravery and in recognition that many of them have risked their livelihoods. Not only do these whistleblower cases play an instrumental role in outing fraudulent behavior within the U.S., they also aid in the fight against international corruption.
Read more about the False Claims Act and it’s success here.
The Fight Remains: We Must Continue Protecting the FCA
In a June, 2023 FCA whistleblower case, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a dissent containing language which questioned the constitutionality of the FCA’s whistleblower provisions. In the following months, multiple motions picking up on Thomas’ line of reasoning were filed. As Senator Grassley explained, these motions pose a major threat to the United States’ most important and effective anti-fraud law.
Additionally, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has made its opposition to the False Claims Act very clear over the years. The law has been extremely effective returning billions of dollars to taxpayers from fraudulent government contractors. We need to do everything we can to ensure that major corporate interests don’t hijack the best tool we must protect the fiscal responsibility of the government and ensure the False Claims Act remains just as effective as ever.
Tell Congress to pass the bipartisan Administrative False Claims Act to defend against these baseless attacks and protect this critical anti-fraud tool.
Join our fight to safeguard the key whistleblower protections of the False Claims Act!
- Sign up to the NWC Action Alert Network to be notified of our next FCA call to action.
- Make a recurring monthly donation to the National Whistleblower Center to ensure that we can continue to fight the good fight!
Success Story: In 2019, NWC got Anti-WB Attorney General Nominee to Agree to Protect the False Claims Act!
In December 2018, President Trump nominated a radical anti-whistleblower advocate to be the new U.S. Attorney General of the United States. The National Whistleblower Center learned that in 1998 and again in 2002, William Barr made statements in which he strongly opposed the highly successful qui tam whistleblower provisions in the False Claims Act.
The National Whistleblower Center immediately issued a press release and an action alert to call attention to Barr’s history of hostility toward the False Claims Act. Continue Reading…
