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For Immediate Release
November, 22 2010, 04:09pm EDT
Contact:
Email:,contact@whistleblowers.org,Phone: (202) 342-1902
$3 Billion Recovered in 2010 Proves that Whistleblowing Works
WASHINGTON
Today, the Department of Justice released
that the government recovered $3 Billion from the False Claims Act in
Fiscal Year 2010. In its press release the DOJ stated "most of the cases
resulting in recoveries were brought to the government by
whistleblowers under the False Claims Act, the federal government's
primary weapon in the battle against fraud." The DOJ acknowledged that
whistleblowers (also known as "relators") "face considerable personal
risk in coming forward with allegations of fraud."
Stephen M.
Kohn, Executive Director
of the National Whistleblowers Center issued the following statement in
response, "Once again the DOJ statistics prove that whistleblowing
works. The False Claims Act recovers billions of
dollars for taxpayers and deters future fraud against the federal
government."
Mr. Kohn added,
"The release of the DOJ's 2010 False Claims Act statistics are
particularly timely because the Securities and Commodities Commissions
are currently drafting rules to implement the Dodd-Frank whistleblower
reward provisions, which are closely modeled after the False Claims Act.
The Securities and Commodities Commissions need to utilize the same
effective and powerful procedures if they expect their whistleblowers
programs to be successful in stopping the next Bernie Madoff and
recovering large amounts of money. As the DOJ recognizes, whistleblowers
risk their careers when they report fraud and they deserve strong
protections."
Links:
NWC Letter to the Chairman of the SEC on deficiencies in proposed whistleblower rules (November 22, 2010)
NWC Freedom of Information Act Requests to SEC (November 22, 2010)
Since 1988, the NWC and attorneys associated with it have supported whistleblowers in the courts and before Congress and achieved victories for environmental protection, government contract fraud, nuclear safety and government and corporate accountability.
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