Posted on 10/26/2024 11:16:05 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Since 1986, whistleblowers have been in the forefront of the government’s war on fraud, accounting for $53 billion, or more than 70%, of the $75 billion recovered from swindlers on defense contracts, from Medicare and from other federal programs.
There’s no debate over what’s driving this record: It’s a 1986 federal law that awards whistleblowers up to 30% of the recovery. For the federal government, this is a bargain. Without the law, the government might never even know about most of the $75 billion in fraud that was unearthed.
That makes the law “one of the government’s top fraud-fighting tools,” says James King, a spokesman for the Anti-Fraud Coalition, a Washington watchdog group.
Without the qui tam, the federal government often would never find out about the fraud at all.
— Leonardo Cuello, Georgetown University
So perhaps it’s unsurprising that a Trump-appointed judge in Florida has just declared a key provision of the law unconstitutional. The provision concerns so-called qui tam actions, in which private litigants bring lawsuits on behalf of the government as well as themselves. (The Latin term came to us via old English law.)
The ruling came from federal Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, whom Trump named to the bench in 2020 despite her having been labeled “not qualified” by the American Bar Assn. due to her “lack of meaningful trial experience.” She did, however, boast a sterling right-wing legal pedigree, including service as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
The qui tam concept is older than that, however. It dates back to the first Congress, which enacted numerous qui tam laws signed by President George Washington
Another of DJT’s mistakes heard from
OK, if the left is up in arms over it and bad mouthing the judge, it must have been a good ruling.
So for us non-legalese savvy FReepers, what’s the Cliff Notes version?
Are they joking? The government created epic fraud in every direction when they decided to open our borders to millions from God knows where as they forced the American people at gun point to pay billions annually for all of this fraud and lawlessness.
The particular aspect of the law held unconstitutional dates from 1986. The essential concept of the False Claims Act though can be preserved through remedial legislation and changes in judicial and executive procedures.
” Kathryn Kimball Mizelle”
Beware three name and hyphenated women.
The article explains it fairly well. If the government takes no action after receiving information about fraud in one of its programs, the individual citizen/employee that brought the information is allowed to sue on behalf of the feds and himself. If the suit finds that fraud was committed, the individual gets a large portion of the recovery. The procedure is designed to 1) encourage reporting of fraud by individual/employees, and 2) prod the feds into prosecuting the cases.
What happens in many cases, is that the fraud allegation is only partially documented, the feds don’t proceed, and then law firms specializing in these cases pounce like hungry wolves, get complete discovery and fashion huge multi-million dollar cases. It sometimes is almost fraud in itself.
So perhaps it is not surprising that......this “Trump judge”.....
this not so subtle editorializing in a supposedly NEWS report....is a primo example of why so many people in Californication don’t read the LASlimes anymore, a paper that once nearly conquered the entire state’s marketplace with editions in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, the Inland Empire, the San Fernando Valley, and San Francisco.
An honest editor could make the article read with far less political bias. And still report any substantive content.
But of course that is not what the LASlimes does.
He better straighten his head up. Still voting for him and praying.
In 2023 of the Biden/Harris admin, the Pentagon’s military personnel budget was $184 billion, which is the second largest category of spending for the Department of Defense (DoD)......covers pay and retirement benefits for service members.
The Pentagon’s proposed 2025 budget includes an $8.9 billion increase to $181.9 billion for military personnel, despite an expected decrease in active end force.
The budget also includes a 4.5% pay raise for service members and a 2% pay raise for civilian employees.
Last year in the Biden/Harris admin, the Pentagon couldn’t properly account for a whopping 61% of its total $3.5 trillion in assets. That figure increased this year, with the department insufficiently documenting 63% of its now $3.8 trillion in assets.
Military contractors possess many of these assets, but to an extent unbeknownst to the Pentagon ........ and to Biden/Harris.
There is a reason liberals hate this judge’s decision killing qui tam lawsuits. Justice Thomas and most of the conservatives on the SC are waiting to strike these qui tam lawsuits down. They give standing to private citizens to sue companies and individuals on behalf of the government for alleging companies are overcharging or acting fraudulently on government contracts and collecting a significant percentage of the award. Any tom, Dick or Harry can sue even though they have no connection to the contract. The American bar loves the suits for the same reason they like class action law suits. It is a revenue generator for them and opens up companies to a shooting gallery of of any number of folks looking to win the lottery as well as progressives looking to score political points against business entities.
1986 is only 38 years ago,
not 150.
What you describe sounds like something we don’t need. What we do need though is timely, relevant and effective congressional oversight of agencies and individuals that ignore valid claims of fraud. A lot of people don’t understand what is valid and a lot of other people use that as an excuse to ignore what they don’t want to see. I don’t see any new or changed law preventing either thing.
Just another opinion / editorial / hit piece thinly disguised as a news article. Yes, the judge is over the target.
Election frauds also?
That’s right. The LA Slimes and the rest of the lamestream fake news 📰 🗞 media are truly ignorant.
Exactly my thought.
An important factor in how successful the case is is whether or not the government wants the fraudulent company to succeed. I know of one case a company A was providing material that did not meets the standards set in the government contract and still shipped to company B the material. When the government was notified, the government contacted company B which ultimately changed the requirements so that the material would pass. The government dropped the case and it went no further.
It helps to read the entire article. Can't cram everything into one sentence.
The qui tam concept is older than that, however. It dates back to the first Congress, which enacted numerous qui tam laws signed by President George Washington.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.