Question

27. Access the Internal page of the Taxpayers Against Fraud (TAF), the Federal False Claims Legal Center. Describe the TAF's resources, especially the Qui Tam Attorney Network.

Answer 1

T AF is a non-profit organization whose mission is to maintain the integrity and advance the effectiveness ofwhistleblower reward and private enforcement provisions contained in federal and state laws, including the Securities Exchange Act, the Commodity Exchange Act, the federal and state False Claims Acts, and the Internal Revenue Code. These laws empower and encourage citizens and organizations in the private sector to report incidents of fraud, waste and abuse that improperly divert taxpayer funds from government agencies and programs.

TAF is uniquely situated to comment on the factors necessary to build and sustain a successful whistleblower program. Since 1986, TAF's members, in partnership with the Department of Justice, have represented whistleblowers in federal False Claims Act ("FCA") matters that have generated tens of billions of dollars in civil and criminal recoveries. The FCA's whistleblower provisions are recognized as DOJ's chief civil fraud enforcement tool and are a model for the states and the Internal Revenue Service, which have adopted similar whistleblower statutes. FCA whistleblower enforcement has also yielded serious efforts to improve internal compliance within the business community and is estimated to have saved tens of billions of dollars through deterrent effects.

There are at least five key factors to the FCA's success. First, the statute provides a guaranteed, non-discretionary award if the whistleblower's information leads to the government's recovery or judgment. Second, the statute provides federal court oversight over the whistleblower award determination. Third, the statute creates a structure for whistleblower collaboration in investigation and prosecution, bringing needed private resources to bear. Founh, there are limited and discrete bases for denying an award under the statute, and it creates no broad disqualifications based on an individual's status. Fifth, the statute does not require that an individual exhaust internal reponing procedures before filing a whistleblower action.

Whistleblowers, therefore, have confidence that if they provide information that leads to an FCA judgment or settlement, they will almost certainly receive a guaranteed award. They are assured that the award can be reviewed by a court, if the Justice Department does not adequately value their contribution. This certainty has encouraged more than 10,000 whistleblowers to report allegations of fraud to the Department of Justice through the False Claims Act, and the payoff to taxpayers has been huge. Altogether, the US Treasury and state governments have recovered well over $60 billion in civil settlements and criminal fines as a result of qui tam cases since Congress strengthened the whistle blower provisions of the FCA in 1986.

qui tam action is from Latin for "who as well," a lawsuit brought by a private citizen (popularly called a "whistle blower") against a person or company who is believed to have violated the law in the performance of a contract with the government or in violation of a government regulation, when there is a statute which provides for a penalty for such violations. Qui tam suits are brought for "the government as well as the plaintiff." In a qui tam action the plaintiff (the person bringing the suit) will be entitled to a percentage of the recovery of the penalty (which may include large amounts for breach of contract) as a reward for exposing the wrongdoing and recovering funds for the government. Sometimes the federal or state government will intervene and become a party to the suit in order to guarantee success and be part of any negotiations and conduct of the case. This type of action is generally based on significant violations which involve fraudulent or criminal acts, and not technical violations and/or errors.