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Side-Swiped by the False Claims Act

BY Laurence A. Urgenson, Robert S. Ryland, H. Boyd Greene
January 30, 2012

You didn't see it coming. Your company took a supporting role in a federally funded program such as Medicare, or supported a prime contractor to a defense or civilian agency. Your company is certain it never submitted a false invoice, never certified compliance with any federal requirements, and never promised to comply with federal regulations.

Out of the blue, the Department of Justice (DOJ) contacts you about a qui tam complaint alleging your company submitted “false claims” involving federal funds and is liable for treble damages, plus penalties under the civil False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. 3729 (FCA). You think: “This cannot be happening to my company.”

Welcome to the FCA defendants' club, which is becoming less and less exclusive. DOJ, in its own words, “has never been more aggressive or more successful” and recently announced record fraud recoveries ' $5.6 billion in 2011 and more than $15 billion since 2009, including $8.4 billion in health care cases. The FCA accounted for $3 billion in 2011, including $2.8 billion in qui tam cases where a whistleblower is entitled to a percentage of the recovery. The trend is sharply upward ' 28% of all FCA recoveries over the past 25 years were obtained in the past three years. There were 638 new qui tam cases filed in 2011 alone ' nearly double the trend over the past decade ' and DOJ has obtained large increases in funding to combat fraud, abuse and excessive costs, especially in federal health programs.

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