The Department of Justice’s Statistical Data Reveals it Pays to be a Whistleblower!

By Attorney Patricia Stamler, Esq.

On January 9, 2020, the United States Department of Justice’s press release announced data regarding the monetary recoveries exceeding $3 billion under the False Claims Act for Fiscal Year 2019. The press release can be found here.

The False Claims Act (“FCA”) is the government’s “primary civil tool to redress false claims for federal funds and property involving a multitude of other government operations and functions.” Congress enhance the FCA in 1986 by “increasing incentives for whistleblowers to file lawsuits alleging false claims on behalf of the government.” Whistleblower actions known as “qui tam” claims brought by “relators” (a/k/a whistleblowers), “comprise a significant percentage” of FCA claims. When the government prevails in a qui tam case, the relator typically receives a portion of the recovery which ranges between 15 and 30 percent. In FY 2019 relators filed “633 qui tam suits.”

According to the press release, $2.6 billion federal recovery (which excludes the recovery of millions of dollars for state Medicaid programs) pertain to cases that involved the “health care industry, including drug and medical device manufacturers, managed care providers, hospitals, pharmacies, hospice organizations, laboratories and physicians.”  The detailed “Fraud Statistics” report for FY 2019 (and prior years from 10-1-86 through 9-30-19) can be found here.

 “Whistleblowers continue to play a critical role identifying new and evolving fraud schemes that might otherwise remain undetected,” said Assistant Attorney General Hunt. “Taxpayers have benefitted greatly from these individuals who are often required to make substantial sacrifices to bring these schemes to light.”

Please contact Hertz Schram’s False Claims Act (Qui Tam Whistleblower) legal team at if you would like to learn more about your legal rights and options by visiting www.fl.hertzschram.com or calling us at (248) 975-7272.