2023 was another big year for whistleblowers, helping the government recover billions of dollars in dozens of fraud enforcement actions. As usual, virtually all these whistleblower-prompted recoveries were under the government's three primary whistleblower rewards programs -- the False Claims Act, the SEC Whistleblower Program, and the CFTC Whistleblower Program. Successful whistleblowers under each of these...
Top Ten SEC and CFTC Whistleblower Awards for 2023
Posted 01/16/24
It was a relatively quiet year for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in their payout of whistleblower awards under their respective whistleblower programs. Under the SEC Program and CFTC Program -- both enacted under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act -- whistleblowers who provide information that leads to a successful government...
Last week's Department of Justice (DOJ) Catch of the Week goes to Dallas-based architecture and engineering firm AECOM. Last Tuesday (October 24), the company agreed to pay$11.8 million to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act by improperly billing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for disaster assistance funding in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster...
Yesterday (October 12), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced an $18 million whistleblower award. The agency did not disclose the identity of the whistleblower or the associated enforcement action. It never does. The CFTC maintains strict confidentiality over its whistleblowers. All we know is the whistleblower "provided detailed information and assistance," that "was significant in amount...
This week's Department of Justice (DOJ) Catch of the Week goes to the Boeing Company. Yesterday (September 28), DOJ announced the Virginia-based aircraft maker agreed to pay $8.1 million to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act in connection with its Navy contracts to manufacture the V-22 Osprey military aircraft.
According to the government, for more than ten years Boeing violated contractual...
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today (August 25) a whistleblower award of $18 million "to a whistleblower whose information and assistance led to a successful SEC enforcement action." Due to the agency's commitment to keeping the identity of its whistleblowers strictly confidential, it did not disclose who the whistleblower is, or the enforcement action to which the reward is tied.
All we...
Earlier this month (August 4), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its award of $104 million to seven whistleblowers "whose information and assistance led to a successful SEC enforcement action and related actions brought by another agency." It follows a string of blockbuster awards under the SEC Whistleblower Program, which provides whistleblowers who provide information leading to a successful...
This week's catch of the week goes to Virginia-based military contractor Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation. On Friday (July 21), the company agreed to pay the United States a whopping $377 million to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act by billing the government for costs unrelated to its government contracts.
Government contractors may only charge the government for costs directly related to a...
This week's Department of Justice (DOJ) "Catch of the Week" goes to Detroit Medical Center, Vanguard Health Systems, and Tenet Healthcare. On Wednesday, they agreed to pay roughly $30 million to settle government and whistleblower charges of violating the False Claims Act by providing kickbacks to certain referring physicians. It is just the latest in a string of False Claims Act settlements concerning kickbacks...
It is the largest award ever made to a whistleblower on record under any of the ever-expanding list of whistleblower rewards programs. $279 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) "to a whistleblower whose information and assistance led to the successful enforcement of SEC and related actions." That is pretty much all the SEC disclosed in announcing the award because of the agency's strong...