Here is a list of items that can help determine whether you may be a whistleblower with a false claims case:
- You have unique, first-hand information about how a potential fraud is being perpetrated against the government. This includes Medicaid/Medicare fraud, tax fraud, security fraud and frauds against states and municipalities (if those governments have their own false claims laws).
- Your information is based on what you saw or heard. If information about a fraud is known publicly, and you are not an insider, pursuing a case will be difficult.
- You did not plan or initiate the fraud, but you may have been instructed to participate by your employer. You tried to complain and you may have been retaliated against as a result of your challenges.
- You are committed to the prosecution of the fraud, which may take several years for the government just to investigate. You are also willing to be publicly known as a whistleblower at the appropriate time.
- The fraud you identified involves significant amounts of money. The potential defendant should be a large or publicly-held company with substantial assets that could pay a recovery.
- The company intentionally committed the fraud. If a company makes an honest mistake, technical violation, or interprets an ambiguous rule or regulation in its favor, it is not fraud.
- You have some corroboration for your knowledge of the fraud, which is likely a combination of documents, what you have learned, and what others have told you. Of course, you should not obtain any evidence through illegal means.
If you have documents:
Keep them safe, dry, and clean. Never write on them — “Post-It” labels are good.- Keep track of where your documents are from, and organize them in folders by topic or chronologically. Never hole-punch them.
- If you have electronic documents, also make a hard-copy printout as well as a back-up disk with a printout of an index.
- Please keep the documents confidential! Share them only with attorneys. If you create any documents for your attorneys, identify them as “confidential, and prepared in anticipation of seeking legal advice.”
Click here to view different types of FCA cases.
Need more information? See our Relators FAQ.