The Qui Tam Team Blog Join In the Fight Against Fraud

Gathering Evidence for a False Claims Act Case

Under the federal False Claims Act, the federal government may take action against an individual or entity that knowingly cheats the government in one form or another by making a false claim. If you observe fraud against the government, you MUST file a qui tam suit in order to be eligible for a whistleblower reward. If you believe that you have observed some type of fraud against the government, it's important to consider the evidence that will be required to prove that fraud occurred. The evidence must show that the individual/entity knowingly defrauded the government. The Department of Justice joins only about 25% of qui tam cases, and because the DOJ has to be so selective based on the volume of cases and the limited number of attorneys available to try them, only cases with strong evidence are selected. This is why you should keep evidence gathering in mind from the minute you believe you have observed fraud against the government.

What kind of evidence should you gather? This will depend somewhat on your industry. In general, you need to gather evidence showing that the government was cheated. Fraud against the government can take many forms. Some examples include:

• Knowingly presenting a false claim for payment or approval to the government;
• Knowingly making a false statement as part of a claim to the government;
• Possessing property or money used or to be used by the government and knowingly turning over less than all that money/property;
• Knowingly making a false statment or record related to an obligation to pay money/transmit property to the government;
• Knowingly avoiding or decreasing an obligation to pay money to the government.

The specific types of evidence you should consider gathering include:

• Invoices and vouchers;
• Memos;
• Emails;
• Voicemails and text messages;
• Photographs;
• Plans, drawings, and specs;
• Contracts;
• Accounting documents;
• Bank records and credit card statements;
• Factory/manufacturing records.

In the case of electronic records, such as emails (which often constitute the bulk of modern business), there are numerous programs and techniques available to recover data that would otherwise be considered lost. Even if a file has been deleted, usually it can still be recovered.

Your chances of recovering a reward in a qui tam case increase greatly when you hire an attorney. An attorney with experience trying qui tam cases will help you through the daunting process of gathering evidence. If you believe that you have observed fraud committed against the government, contact the Qui Tam Team for free advice.