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Record Government Spending, Record Fraud, and Some of The Highest Paid Whistleblower Awards

November 1, 2022

The more the government spends, the more the taxpayers are victimized by fraud, in the form of Medicare Fraud, Medicaid Fraud, Defense Contractor Fraud, Illegal Kickbacks, and other schemes. To hold these unlawful actors accountable, the legal system heavily relies on insiders or whistleblowers who have the courage to blow the whistle on the fraud. Thanks to the False Claims Act, whistleblowers are potentially eligible for some of the largest whistleblower awards. A False Claims Act Whistleblower is eligible to receive up to 30% of what the government recovers. On average, whistleblower settlements reach roughly $13 million dollars if the government intervenes and $3 million if the government declines, which translates to whistleblower awards of roughly $4 million dollars at the highest percentile.

Qui tam cases that have involved pharmaceutical kickbacks have led the way for some of the highest paid whistleblower awards, some exceeding $1 billion in recovery. Some of the recent whistleblower cases in 2022 includes a False Claims Act whistleblower suit against the pharmaceutical company Biogen that was recently settled for $900 million.[1]  The whistleblower awards in those cases generally are in the hundreds of millions of dollars, so private individuals are greatly incentivized to do the right thing and report illegal activity like kickbacks.

Blowing the whistle, the right way is far more complicated than one may expect. Individuals who are seduced to internally report the matter through their corporate hotlines may inadvertently putting a noose around their own future as it is often a one-way path to termination. Telling the authorities directly, while benign, means you risk eventually exposing your identity and you are not eligible for a whistleblower award. To blow the whistle the right way, you should speak with an experienced whistleblower law firm–one that has successfully navigated statutes like the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute, like Brown, LLC.

Brown, LLC time and time again has shown it is one of the best whistleblower law firms. Lex Machina independently ranked Brown, LLC as the second most prolific filer of qui tams in the half decade. Results matter too, and although every case is different, and some might not succeed. The qui tam team is led by a former FBI Special Agent and Legal Advisor which is important because a great deal of qui tam litigation is done under seal with the Department of Justice investigating.  A recent whistleblower success by the firm underscores the incentives to blow the whistle the right way, as two whistleblowers represented by Brown, LLC just were given a whistleblower award of slightly over $4 million dollars.

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An area of great pillaging by unscrupulous individuals over the last few years was the rampant PPP Loan Fraud. PPP loans were purposed to be used for payroll purposes, but some individuals took the money and ran – closing shop with taxpayers’ money and others just outright fabricated payroll, double counted employees, concealed interrelated companies and others just outright committed fraud creating fictitious companies or applying for and receiving funds surreptitiously under existing businesses.

With record government spending, it is projected there will be even more fraud unearthed in the years to come and possibly some of the highest paid whistleblower awards. Government contracts for things like construction, defense contracts, and health care are all susceptible to massive fraud without the willingness of insiders to step forward and report the fraud the right way. To help the system, Brown, LLC takes qui tam cases on contingency basis, meaning we’re only paid if we win the case and further, we offer free and confidential consultations to educate you about your rights if you’re thinking about blowing the whistle.

[1] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/biogen-inc-agrees-pay-900-million-settle-allegations-related-improper-physician-payments