Whistleblower Attorneys Standing Up for Those Who Speak Out

Exchanging cash for information has been done for a long time. Only on July 30, 1778, however, did the practice become protected by law. The Continental Congress enacted the world’s first whistleblower law on that date in response to the pleas of two men jailed for alleging the commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy was corrupt. The History of Whistleblower Protection Programs During the American Civil War, fraud in government contracts was pervasive. Corrupt contractors sold the Union Army defective guns and ammunition, feeble horses and mules, and rancid food. To encourage people to come forward to inform on the corrupt contractors as available law enforcement officers were few, Congress passed the False Claims Act (FCA) on March 2, 1863. Whistleblower protection was created. The False Claims Act has been the federal government’s primary tool for combating fraud in connection with federal programs and expenditures. This is especially true since the FCA was revamped in 1986 primarily due to the abuses in the defense contracting industry. The amendments significantly expanded the role of whistleblowers, increased financial incentives, and reduced barriers to bringing actions against persons or entities alleged to have submitted fraudulent claims against the federal government. Over time, whistleblower programs...

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women in the U.S., accounting for nearly 25 percent of all deaths from the disease. Although this statistic may be grim, the results of a new international study provide hope. In the study, researchers discovered that regular screening for lung cancer using a CT scan enables early identification of the disease, in turn significantly impacting the long-term survival rate. Currently, lung cancer screening is limited to people deemed to be high risk. However, there has been some discussion regarding whether screening should be extended to people exposed to asbestos or second-hand smoke. What is the Survival Rate for Lung Cancer? According to the American Lung Association, lung cancer has a five-year survival rate of 18.6 percent. This is far lower than many other types of cancer, such as colorectal (64.5 percent), breast (89.6 percent), and prostate (98.2 percent). Survival rate refers to the percentage of people who survive a certain type and stage of cancer for a specific amount of time. By the time symptoms appear, lung cancer is often advanced. Currently, only 16 percent of lung cancer is caught early and more than half of people...

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice recuperated $5.6 billion from False Claims Act (FCA) cases. Whistleblowers played an important role in this recovery. Who Are Whistleblowers? Private citizens, called "relators,” are allowed to file suit for FCA violations on behalf of the government. These are known as qui tam actions. Anyone can become a whistleblower to report fraud to federal officials. Whistleblowers have supported justice in the United States from the beginning of its history. In 1778, the Continental Congress enacted the first law protecting whistleblowers and provided funds for the successful legal defense of two men who had accused the commander of the Continental Navy of war profiteering and other crimes. During the Civil War, when dishonest dealers were selling poor-quality goods to the Union Army, President Abraham Lincoln signed the FCA in 1863, a law Congress had passed to encourage citizens to report fraud against government agencies. Since then, the U.S. government has used the FCA to deal with fraud by imposing significant penalties on anyone who submits a false claim to the government. Although the FCA also empowered the government to financially reward the people who report the misconduct, payment of these rewards was optional. In 1986, the...

Prior to 2009, there were no government protections for whistleblowers who exposed wrongdoing or abuse of power with regard to government contractors and grantees. This changed when President Barack Obama signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009, which protects whistleblowers who expose fraud in federal contracting. The new law provided whistleblower protections to those who work for contractors, while also providing new funds for the government to investigate fraud. The Inspectors General credited the whistleblower protections with minimizing fraud and waste. However, the law has since been gutted after coming under attack. Its safeguards are outdated and no longer match global best practices when it comes to whistleblower protections. As a result, the United States’ ability to fight corruption has been weakened. Given the recent unprecedented surge in government spending, an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 has been proposed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Why is an Amendment being Proposed?  The proposed amendment arrives in the wake of new government spending to address the effects of COVID-19 as well as domestic priorities such as infrastructure spending, which could exceed trillions of dollars. Much of this new federal spending will go to contractors...

Last year, whistleblowers led the way to over $1.6 billion in False Claims Act recoveries, continuing a long legacy of ordinary citizens fighting for what's right since the United States' first qui tam whistleblower law was passed in 1778. But how do whistleblower laws work, and why do they matter? Fraud on the government takes many forms, but its result is the same‚Äîhigh cost to taxpayers and damage to the foundation on which our free society is built. What's Behind Most Whistleblower Cases? Many of today’s whistleblowers operate under the provisions of the False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. §§ 3729–3733, also called the “Lincoln Law” or “FCA”), one of the federal government’s primary tools used to combat fraud. The Act’s “qui tam” provisions allow a private citizen to sue on behalf of the government. These whistleblowers, called “relators” under the FCA, may be awarded 15 to 30 percent of the government’s recovery in their case, and in 2021 alone, they received $237 million in relator share awards. What Counts as Fraud Under the False Claims Act? The False Claims Act applies to fraud involving any federally-funded contract or program, except in cases of tax fraud. That can include defense contractors,...