Government Fraud

Government contract fraud is widespread, and there are currently more than 1,000 whistleblower cases pending before the United States Department of Justice. Reporting government fraud as a qui tam whistleblower not only saves the government and its taxpayers money, it enables the whistleblower to share in the recovery by obtaining, as a whistleblower's reward, a share in the government's recovery.

The False Claims Act permits the recovery of up to triple damages from those who:

• Commit government contractor fraud
• Otherwise knowingly present, or cause to be presented, false claims to a government officer, employee, or member of the armed forces
• Knowingly make, or cause to be made, false statements to get such claims paid by the government
• Make false statements to conceal, avoid, or decrease an obligation to pay or transmit money or property to the government
• In certain cases, conspire to violate the False Claims Act

The False Claims Act also covers a government contracting fraud or other fraud involving a knowing false claim to obtain money or property, any part of which is provided by the government, without regard to whether the wrongdoer deals directly with the government, with an agent acting on the government's behalf, or with a third-party contractor or other recipient of such money or property. This provision is intended to make subcontractors down the contract chain liable for the government contractor fraud they start.

It is not possible to predict the range of schemes to commit government contracting fraud – examples of federal contractor fraud make news on an almost weekly basis. By sharing in the proceeds, the government encourages whistleblowers to make use of the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions to report government fraud.