Looking For Info About The Qui Tam Whistleblower Law?The Qui Tam Whistleblower Law states that a given individual can bring an action against another who had defrauded the federal government by knowingly presenting a false claim for payment. In this instance, a false claim can be false record, receipt, statement or other representations made to the government. Here is a short history lesson on how it all began. The Congress enacted the False Claims Act back in the Civil War, due to the large amount of contracts who tried to fraud the government. It was a decision made by President Abraham Lincoln who wanted to do something about the military contractors that had supplied the Union Army with defective products and inferior materials. But it was just recently, back in 1986 that the Qui Tam Whistleblower Law was made more interesting and supportive of whistleblowers - people who have independent and direct knowledge of fraud against the federal government. Certain incentives were introduced as private citizens get a percentage of the money to be returned to the government, because of the damage made. Let me give you a real-life example. Not too long ago, there was a case about Key West pharmacy and as a result, the government got more than $700 million, while the whistleblowers pocketed $26 million of the $150 million settlement that large drug company payed out. Of course, the lawyers get one third of that and if you lose, you will get nothing. Generally, the multi million dollar payouts are related to industries where big money is involved such as pharmaceuticals, insurance and defense contracting. According to the Qui Tam Whistleblower Law, the legal actions are filed secretly. Or in other words, the company that the case is being filed against is not informed. Only the government is informed. Also, there can't be more than one Qui Tam case on the same allegation. The team that files the case first will be the only team that can prosecute. Once the government decides to intervene or not, the company is informed of the allegations against it and a lawsuit proceeds like any other civil lawsuit. There are certain requirements stated in the Qui Tam Whistleblower Law that must be considered. First of all, the whistleblower must have actual knowledge of the fraud, not just a mere suspicion and it must not be based on information released in publicly available medias, such as newspapers, radio, television, internet. There must also be some form of evidence to back up the knowledge. Federal or state money must be involved. Generally, the case needs to be filed within six years of the act. Whistleblowers can call special hotlines to report a fraud in corporate America or in the private sector. In 2002, the Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It's easy to find a whistleblower attorney in New York. |