In Fiscal Year 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that out of $2.2 billion recovered from False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgements, $1.6 billion came from qui tam cases. In anticipation of the report for Fiscal Year 2021, this article breaks down some of the standout FCA cases from the past year.
The qui tam provisions of the FCA allows private individuals to file lawsuits on behalf of the U.S. government if they have knowledge about a company or individual defrauding the U.S. government or federal programs. The government then has the opportunity to take on the qui tam case and use their resources to pursue the case. If the case ends with a settlement, the whistleblower who brought the qui tam case receives a monetary award ranging from 15 to 30% of the government’s total recovery. In this way, the FCA incentivizes whistleblowers to come forward with information about fraud and misconduct.
In 2021 so far, the Justice Department announced a wide number of decisions that stemmed from qui tam whistleblower lawsuits from a range of industries. The healthcare field was vastly overrepresented in this year’s False Claims Act decisions, and settlements with healthcare providers and manufacturers raked in big numbers for the U.S. government and whistleblowers alike. The DOJ also announced a handful of settlements with defense contractors. This article will highlight different cases from the aforementioned categories and a few other standout cases.
WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced criminal charges against 455 people across 45 states accused of participating in health care fraud schemes involving more than $6.5 bi...