This archive includes posts from our “Top Ten” series, in which the Whistleblower Insider blog reviews notable government enforcement actions and whistleblower news – not always in groups of ten. Return to:
This year, the federal government recovered billions of dollars under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which prohibits the payment of bribes to foreign officials for the purposes of furthering business interests. The anti-corruption actions by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission concerned almost every continent and covered a variety of misconduct. Below, we’ve gathered...
2019 was another strong year for whistleblowers, who once again collectively recovered billions of dollars for the government and hundreds of millions of dollars in whistleblower rewards through their filing of lawsuits under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Whistleblowers this past year also continued to secure financial rewards under the Dodd-Frank SEC Whistleblower and CFTC Whistleblower programs,...
Top Ten Federal False Claims Act Recoveries of 2018
Posted 01/28/19
The federal False Claims Act, under which whistleblowers can bring claims to report fraud and misconduct in government contracts and programs, is the foundation of the Department of Justice's fraud recovery and the U.S. whistleblower reward system. In 2018, the U.S. recovered over $2 billion from defendants who sought to cheat the system.
The top FCA settlements for calendar year 2018, based on the amount of the...
While 2018 saw manyimportantfederal settlements and whistleblower awards across a wide range of industries, state governments were equally busy rooting out fraud. In fact, in the last few years, recognizing the ever-growing need to hold businesses accountable for defrauding taxpayers, several states have passed their own false claims statutes modeled after the federal false claims act. These laws operate in a...
Top Ten Federal Financial Fraud Recoveries of 2018
Posted 01/25/19
While 2018 has been a banner year for FCPA, Tax, and SEC & CFTC recoveries, in the bottomless pit of financial frauds that hurt taxpayers, the government, consumers, investors, and the American economy, 2018 brought us additional stunning recoveries for violations related to residential-mortgage backed securities, international economic sanctions, consumer protection, anti-money-laundering, EB-5 investment fraud, and...
2018 was another banner year for whistleblowers. As the DOJ recently reported in its annual summary of False Claims Act recoveries, $2.1 billion of the $2.8 billion in settlements and judgments reported last year arose from lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. During the same period, the government paid out $301 million in whistleblower awards to the individuals who exposed the fraud by...
Our environment, natural resources, energy resources, and wildlife are subject to numerous laws and government programs that can give rise to fraudulent activity. Here is our look-back at the top 10 environmental fraud recoveries for 2018. Our 2016 and 2017 lists are also available on the Whistleblower Insider blog.
The SEC and CFTC were busy in 2018. In addition to its robust FCPA enforcement, the SEC recovered hundreds of millions of dollars from companies accused of defrauding investors, breaching fiduciary duties, and violating SEC rules. The SEC also awarded its largest-ever whistleblower awards in 2018. Likewise, the CFTC spent the last year cracking down on market manipulators, rooting out commodities fraud, and halting...
Tax fraud and tax evasion can take many forms, but there is one constant: when entities and individuals pay less tax than they owe, they are cheating the system. Bringing cases against companies and individuals that cheat the system is central to the Internal Revenue Service's mission. Tax fraud may also give rise to a claim under the IRS Whistleblower Reward Program, which pays eligible whistleblowers 15 to 30% of...