Federal False Claims Act 31 U.S.C. § 3729-3733

Excerpts From The False Claims Act

§ 3729. FALSE CLAIMS

(a) Liability for certain acts.

(1) In general. … any person who –

(A) knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval

(B) knowingly makes, uses or causes to be made or used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim

(C) conspires to commit a violation of subparagraph (A), (B), (D), (E), (F) or (G)

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is liable to the United States Government for a civil penalty of not less than $5,000 and not more than $10,000, as adjusted by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (28 U.S.C. 2461 note; Public Law 104-410), plus three times the amount of damages which the government sustains because of the act of that person.

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(3) Costs of civil actions. A person violating this subsection shall also be liable to the United States government for the costs of a civil action brought to recover any such penalty or damages.

So what is a false claim? When a provider submits a claim for payment to the government, but the work for which they submit the claim was not performed, that is a false claim. In other words, individuals and companies may only bill the government for work actually performed or services actually rendered. They may not bill for one procedure when they actually performed a less expensive procedure, they may not bill for chemotherapy drugs provided to a patient who does not have cancer, they may bill for medically unnecessary services. Nor may they conspire to do any of those things. The statute sets forth the penalties and fines, as well as costs that the government recovers from the fraudsters.

§ 3730. Civil actions for false claims

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(b) Actions by private persons.

(1) A person may bring a civil action for a violation of section 3729 for the person and for the United States government. The action shall be brought in the name of the government. The action may be dismissed only if the court and the attorney general give written consent to the dismissal and their reasons for consenting.

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How can I bring a false claim action? The procedures involved in bringing cases under the False Claims Act are very technical. You must have a lawyer represent you in these cases. Because of the technicality, make sure your attorney is experienced to avoid minefields that may jeopardize your case and recovery. A whistleblower in a successful action may recover between 15% and 25% of the overall recovery.