The False Claims Act also known as a “Qui Tam” (kwee- tam) action, rewards the public for bringing lawsuits to recover civil penalties and forfeitures from those companies and persons who have defrauded the government. Qui tam laws rewards those who bring (“relate”) an action in the government’s name. Relators, as the private plaintiffs, are rewarded in successful cases with a portion of the recovered proceeds.
Persons with knowledge of false statements to defraud the US Government agencies or departments can bring a whistleblower action individually or in a company capacity under the false claims act for matters such as false import or export declarations, false labeling presented to a US Agency or Department such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), or Health and Human Services for, construction and procurement fraud, energy fraud, defense contractor false statements, false statements to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Medicare Fraud, and health care or hospital and emergency room fraud among others.