Accomplished whistleblower attorney Julie Keeton Bracker of Bracker & Marcus and Dan Mogin, a veteran antitrust attorney and founder of Mogin Law LLP, joined long-time legal writer and Editor-in-Chief of the Mogin Law Blog, Tom Hagy, to discuss the origins, mechanics, and implications of this initiative.
See webinar here.
Julie Keaton Bracker, a nationally recognized authority on whistleblower law, began by tracing the history of whistleblower statutes to the Civil War era. The False Claims Act (FCA), often called “Lincoln’s Law,” was enacted to combat fraud against the government—such as the infamous supply of lame mules and weevil-infested flour to Union troops. The FCA’s unique “qui tam” provisions empower insiders, known as relators, to file lawsuits on behalf of the government, incentivizing the exposure of fraud even when the whistleblower may have been involved in the wrongdoing. Bracker explained that the definition of “insider” has broadened over time. Today, whistleblowers may be employees who unknowingly participate in fraudulent billing or other schemes, only to discover and report the misconduct. The FCA has recovered more than $700 billion for the government since its revitalization in the late 1980s, inspiring similar programs at agencies like the SEC and IRS.
In 1995, Princess Diana made broadcasting history and shaped the future of the Royal Family when she sat down with Martin Bashir for an episode of BBC's Panorama. Three decades on, the interview c...