One hundred sixty years ago, Congress passed the False Claims Act (FCA) in response to widespread fraud committed against the United States government during the Civil War. Known as the "Lincoln Law," the FCA was originally designed to aid the government's efforts to recoup funds it had paid to defense contractors that knowingly sold sick horses, defective munitions, and other useless supplies or services to the Union Army.
Through successive reforms, the law continues to be a powerful tool in the government's anti-fraud arsenal, "obtain[ing] more than $5.6 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2021,"[1] and more than $72 billion since its most significant amendments in 1986.[2]
Though the FCA may appear straightforward—i.e., one should not "knowingly present[] . . . a false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval" (31 U.S.C. 3729(a)(1)(A))—those who have conducted business with the government (since 1863) also know that details matter. For example, in FCA cases where the alleged falsity rests on a defendant's supposed error of legal "interpretation," the Act's knowledge requirement is closely related to whether the claim is itself false. The very definition of an ambiguity is that more than one objectively reasonable interpretation exists. Thus, if—before an authoritative decision is issued on which interpretation is "correct"—a contractor adopts a reasonable...
Blow the whistle, get paid. A Justice Department bounty program that incentivizes employees to blow the whistle on their employers could lead to more whistleblowing as the Trump administration inte...