COVID-19 Government Spending Must Be Protected by Whistleblowers–Through the False Claims Act and State False Claims Acts

COVID-19 has required unprecedented government spending through the CARES Act and other measures.  That spending creates countless opportunities for theft of funds desperately needed to fight the coronavirus.

The virus has made the nation’s major “whistleblower” law–the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”) and similar state False Claims Acts –even more essential. Both the federal and state FCA laws are civil statutes designed to combat fraud directed at taxpayer dollars.

Since its 1986 amendments created the modern Act, the federal FCA has been dramatically successful in recovering many billions of dollars in taxpayer funds from defendants who engaged in fraud or false claims.

Also essential are other “whistleblower” laws that were inspired by the successes of the False Claims Act, including the SEC Whistleblower and CFTC Whistleblower programs.

You may download here our article summarizing how the False Claims Acts work.