The U.S. Department of Justice announced last week that it had obtained a record $5.69 billion in settlements and judgments from civil fraud cases brought under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) in fiscal year 2014. This brings the Federal Government’s total recoveries under the FCA in the past five years alone to $22.75 billion, which represents more than half of all FCA recoveries since 1986. And for the second consecutive year, over 700 whistleblower lawsuits were brought under the FCA’s qui tam provision, approximately twice the average during the years 2000-2009. The FCA’s qui tam provision allows a private citizen whistleblower (referred to as a “relator”) with knowledge of fraud against the federal government to file a lawsuit on behalf of himself and the United States. Whistleblowers can receive between 15-30% of any amount recovered by the Government, with nearly $3 billion in such rewards distributed this fiscal year alone.
