Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
Does the Volume of Qui Tam FCA Enforcement Mean the System Is Working, or Prove That the ‘Rogues’ Have Gone Rogue?
The False Claims Act (FCA), enacted during the Civil War to combat widespread fraud by Union Army suppliers, prohibits knowingly submitting “false claims” for payment to the government. FCA claims can be initiated by the government or private citizens — qui tam relators — on the government’s behalf, based on new, non-public information. The government can intervene in the case, or allow relators to proceed alone; in successful suits, FCA provides for triple damages and per-claim penalties, and successful relators receive a share of the recovery. That financial incentive is key: as one sponsor of the original FCA explained, the government was “holding out a temptation and setting a rogue to catch a rogue, which is the safest and most expeditious way I have ever discovered of bringing rogues to justice.”
Justice Department statistics reflect the expansion of modern qui tam FCA enforcement. Between 1987 and 2024, the government recovered $78 billion in FCA settlements and judgments, including $55 billion in qui tam suits. The proliferation of qui tam suits has escalated; in 1987, qui tam recoveries were outnumbered 10-to-1 by those in government-initiated suits, but since 1995, qui tam actions account for an increasingly large majority of recoveries. In 2024 alone, recoveries in FCA qui tam suits exceeded $2.4 billion.
This premium content is locked for Business Crimes Bulletin subscribers only
ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE SINGLE SOURCE OF OBJECTIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS, PRACTICAL INSIGHTS, AND NEWS IN ENTERTAINMENT LAW.
- Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
- Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
- Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts
Already a have an account? Sign In Now Log In Now
For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.