A relator is a private person or entity who files a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit on behalf of the United States in exchange for receiving a portion any recovery from the defendant. The FCA was enacted in 1863 in response to defense contractors defrauding the Union Army during the Civil War. But, it wasn’t until 1986, when Congress supercharged the FCA by incentivizing more private whistleblowers to file lawsuits on behalf of the government, that the FCA became the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) primary enforcement tool for combatting fraud against the government.
FCA lawsuits filed by relators, called “qui tam” suits (qui tam comes from a Latin phrase for someone who sues “for the King as well as for himself”), are the engine behind the FCA’s strength as an enforcement tool. Under the 1986 amendments, relators are entitled to receive between 15% and 30% of the government’s recovery for any successful qui tam suit.
Given the severity of damages and penalties imposed by the FCA—treble damages plus civil penalties up to $23,607 per false claim, often resulting in potential recoveries in the millions of dollars—this bounty has proved a keen motivator. In FY2021 alone, relators filed 598 qui tam suits, and DOJ obtained more than $1.6 billion in settlements and judgments resulting from qui tam suits. For their part, relators received more than $237 million in 2021. Indeed, since the 1986 amendments, the DOJ has obtained more than $70 billion in settlements and judgments under...
Image: Facebook/SAPS The IDAC has rubbished rumours that it has a J50 warrant of arrest for KZN provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi as “false”. This comes after re...