The Department of Justice has released the official numbers relating to False Claims Act cases for the 2011 fiscal year. This year’s statistics show that the Government is continuing to aggressively pursue fraud brought to its attention by brave whistleblowers.
Since 1987, the government has recovered $30,315,593,792 on behalf of the United States taxpayer. This huge sum of money is remarkable. In 2011 alone, over 3 billion dollars have been recovered in either settlements or judgments from both qui-tam and non-qui-tam cases. Although fraud is unfortunately (and obviously) rampant, it is inspiring that every day citizens have aided so significantly in the retrieval process.
This year, 762 new fraud matters were brought to the government. The DOJ has recorded 12,132 new fraud matters since 1987. Over 60% of these cases have been filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. This means that over 7,000 courageous individuals have taken action and blown the whistle on fraudulent activities since the late eighties.
As their share awards, whistleblowers received over 500 million dollars in this year alone: the most money ever paid to whistleblowers in a single year. And whistleblowers have received about $3.4 billion in awards since 1987. It is particularly gratifying to see whistleblowers compensated for their efforts due to the dedication and commitment they put into these cases, and that the total amount of money awarded to them continues to increase.
2012 has already started off strong with new cases being reported every day. If you know about fraud being committed, help stop it by contacting the experienced qui tam attorneys at Tycko & Zavareei today.
Happy New Year!