With the federal government settling its claim against disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong today, clients are asking about his former teammate, Floyd Landis receiving $1.1 million dollars as a whistleblower.  Clients have asked me if this is a new law or process. On the contrary, President Abraham Lincoln created the False Claims Act during the Civil War in an attempt to incentivize whistleblowing against war profiteers who sought to defraud the government.  Under the False Claims Act, the government can attain treble damages against the person or corporation committing fraud in the pursuit of a government contract, meaning the penalty is three times the fraud itself. A whistleblower, the person who alerts the government to the fraud under the False Claims Act, is entitle to 15% to 30% of the government’s recovery. Given that government contracts are frequently many millions of dollars, the rewards for whistleblowers can be sizable.

The Challenges of Being a Whistleblower Under the False Claims Act

Many people walk into my office excited at the prospect of being a False Claims Act whistleblower.  But being a whistleblower is scary—it can be terrifying to become aware of fraud, especially when you are reporting fraud by your coworkers or those within your corporation. Choosing to expose that misconduct and to become a whistleblower means risking your livelihood, friendship with colleagues, and financial security. Once you become a whistleblower and an investigation into the fraud commences, there is a serious chance that you will feel the wrath of those you have exposed. Loss of employment, punitive or disciplinary action, and defamation are just some of the forms of retaliation that whistleblowers sometimes experience.

What are the Types of Fraud the False Claims Act Covers?

Clients often ask me what constitutes fraud under the False Claims Act? Fraud can take several forms. Imagine that your company contracts to supply car tires to the Army at a certain specification of resilience and puncture resistance. If your company sell the government knock-off versions of the promised tire, that is fraud. In that example, your company is promising one thing to the government and providing a substandard product at the same price.

Yet another type of fraud involves qualifications; many types of government contracts either require that the contractor has certain qualifications and certifications or that it meet certain demographic qualifications such as being minority or woman owned.  In this type of fraud, a whistleblower may not be claiming that the product or service sold to the government was shoddy, but that the corporation involved in the transaction actually had no business entering into it.

Similarly, bribery is another type of fraud.  If your company bribes government officials in an effort to obtain a government contract, it is violating the False Claims Act.  For the same reason as stated above, your company is entering a contract with the government that it has no right to.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Do you have knowledge of fraud or other serious financial misconduct occurring in the context of your employment? Are you considering filing a whistleblower case? To protect your career and family and to attain your compensation, you will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney. First, you need confidential advice regarding whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud and whether you are in a position to receive compensation based on a whistleblower tip. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive. Because whistleblower programs receive thousands of tips each year, they can only act on a small percentage. If you are going to risk your career, you want to make your work count.

Call Barrett Law now at (800) 707-9577 if you think you may be a whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgement and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.