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The False Claims Act Seal: The DOJ's Position

By Andrew W. Schilling and Megan E. Whitehill
January 01, 2018

Editor's Note: As discussed in Part One of this article, investigations of False Claim Act violations that are initiated as a result of a sealed qui tam complaint raise the question: While the relator and the government are bound by the seal and so cannot reveal the existence of the case or its particulars, does the same apply to the target of the claim? The authors continue their analysis here.

The DOJ

Notwithstanding the absence of an explicit gag order in the statute, the Department of Justice (DOJ) takes the position that, even if the relator properly files the case under seal at the outset, that relator can later “breach the seal,” and be subject to judicial sanction, if he or she discloses the existence of the qui tam to others. Brief for United States as Defendants-Appellants, American Civil Liberties Union et al. v. Holder, et al., No. 09-2086 (4th Cir. Filed Jan. 17, 2010), at pp. 15-16. In other words, while the statute itself does not silence the relator (or anyone else), the DOJ treats the relator as both bound and gagged.

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