Tampa Whistleblower Lawyer
What do you think our nation’s foremost tool against fraud against the federal government is? The Internal Revenue Service? The Federal Bureau of Investigation? Or, how about the National Security Agency? None of those are correct. In fact, the most important weapon the U.S. has to protect itself from fraud is the Department of Justice’s False Claims Act. The False Claims Act is used to discourage corporations and businesses from defrauding the government, and to bring down justice upon those institutes that do so. And, this vital tool does not employ highly skilled and trained government personnel. It uses everyday U.S. citizens that have intimate knowledge of their employer’s illegal wrongdoings. It is up to each and every one of us, at the appropriate times, to keep an eye on our employers and speak up when we discover that they have defrauded the government in some way. Contact our Tampa whistleblower lawyers for more information.
Defrauding the government can cost the taxpayers billions of dollars annually, though whistleblowers have the opportunity to help even the odds, and be handsomely rewarded by doing so. As a whistleblower, you will sue on behalf of the government, and will be awarded with 15 to 25 percent (and as high as 30) of the profit. This can amount from anywhere between hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. The False Claims Act give the government the go-ahead to collect up to three times the damages that the company originally created. In 2015, the largest whistleblower case was brought on by David Kester against the pharmaceutical company Novartis for $390 million, according to the Department of Justice. Examples of defrauding the government include, but are not limited to:
- IRS Fraud/Tax Evasion;
- Overbilling Medicare/Medicaid;
- TARP Funds Fraud;
- Failing to pay overtime benefits when they are due;
- Defense Contract Overcharging;
- Aerospace Contract Overcharging;
- Pharmaceutical/Health Care Fraud; and
- Violating an Environmental Protection Law.
The All Important Knowledge Aspect of a Whistleblower Claim
Do you have actual knowledge of your employer’s misdoings? What happens if you think you do, but it turns out that you do not and that your employer was not doing anything illegal all along? Will you be punished? First of all, the Whistleblower Protection Program will ensure that you do not face any negative retaliation from your employer. Second, the False Claims Act guarantees that you will face no punishment for supplying incorrect knowledge, so long as the claim was not made up intentionally by you. According to the False Claims Act, “A person does not violate the False Claims Act by submitting a false claim to the government; to violate the FCA a person must have submitted, or caused the submission of, the false claim (or made a false statement or record) with knowledge of the falsity.”
Contact our Experienced Tampa Whistleblower Lawyers Today
We have years of experience and a storied history of success in winning all of these types of whistleblower cases. If your employer has taken illegal measures to financially benefit off the backs of taxpayers by defrauding the federal government, contact an experienced Tampa whistleblower claims lawyer as soon as possible with The Pendas Law Firm at 1-844-200-0000.
