According to the Department of Justice’s year-end report, the Department recovered more than $2.88 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the United States in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2018.
As in prior years, the vast majority of these recovered funds are attributable to whistleblower lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the federal False Claims Act. Of the $2.88 billion recovered by the United States this past fiscal year, approximately $2.1 billion is the result of qui tam lawsuits brought by whistleblowers.
Under the False Claims Act, successful whistleblowers are entitled to a share of any recovery by the United States, and in 2018, whistleblowers received a total of $301.7 million in relator share payments from the United States.
Most of the cases involved fraud against Medicare and Medicaid programs. The government estimates that over $80 billion is lost in these federal programs each year due to fraud waste and abuse.
To read the DOJ’s press release, click here.
To learn more about our Whistleblower & Qui Tam practice click here. Our firm is located in Nashville, Tennessee but we represent whistleblowers all around the country. Call us today at (615) 244-2202.
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