Uncategorized Category Archives — Page 4 of 4 — The Whistleblower & Anti-Fraud Blog Published by Whistleblower, False Claims Act & Qui Tam Attorney

Published on: January 5, 2021

Falsely Certifying Eligibility to Participate in Government Programs can Give Rise to Liability under the False Claims Act Post-Escobar, Court of Appeals Holds

Second Circuit rules that relevant government “payment decision” under Escobar included Veterans Administration’s initial decision to award contracts based on claim that contractor qualified as a “service-disabled, veteran-owned small business”—not just the VA’s subsequent decisions to make payments under those contracts

In a key victory for the federal government and qui tam whistleblower s, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed that false statements regarding eligibility to take part in government programs—and not just subsequent false claims for payment after being allowed to participate—are actionable under the False Claims Act notwithstanding the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2016 landmark decision in Universal Health Services v. Escobar. The court in United States v. Strock rejected the idea that the only relevant “payment decision” under Escobar was the decision to pay a contractors’ invoices without regard to the initial decision to award the contract.

Impact on False Claims Act cases involving eligibility

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Published on: December 14, 2020

Financial Institutions can be Sued under the Whistleblower Provisions of the False Claims Act for Defrauding the Federal Reserve

By Mark A. Strauss

Fraud in connection with receipt of federal bailout funds held to be actionable under the False Claims Act

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of two financial sector shutterstock_401325058-2-300x134 qui tam whistleblowers, reviving their claims under the False Claims Act that Wells Fargo lied about its financial condition in order to get billions of dollars in low-interest emergency bailout funds from regional Federal Reserve Banks during the Financial Crisis.

The whistleblowers–who were former employees of Wells Fargo–alleged that the financial institution falsely certified that it was adequately capitalized and in compliance with applicable banking and mortgage lending laws when it requested billions of dollars in emergency loans from the Fed’s Discount Window and Term Auction Facility. As a result, it could get interest rates on the borrowed funds that were much lower than those for which it would otherwise have qualified.

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Published on: February 28, 2016

When an Overly-Influenced Federal Agency Sides with the Accused under the False Claims Act: Whistleblower Claims, Materiality and “Regulatory Capture” in the Trinity Industries Appeal

By Mark A. Strauss

Despite whistleblower claims, federal agency insists it wasn’t defrauded

Guardrail spears driver’s side door of car in Gurnee, IL, in 2013. Harman alleged that the crash involved Trinity’s ET-Plus guardrail.

The anti-fraud bar is focused on the upcoming oral argument in the appeal of the trial verdict in United States ex rel. Harman v. Trinity Industries Inc., calendared for Dec. 7, 2016, before the Fifth Circuit. The $663 million verdict — the largest in the history of the federal False Claims Act — raises questions going to heart of the False Claims Act’s qui tam (whistleblower) provisions. Those provisions enable private parties who have evidence of fraud against the government to bring civil lawsuits for the recovery of damages on the government’s behalf. Successful qui tam whistleblowers receive bounties of 15-30% of what the government receives.

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