Leading Whistleblower Attorney Discusses Falling False Claims Act Whistleblower Rewards

On February 25, Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto founding partner Stephen M. Kohn appeared on Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss the Department of Justice’s recently released False Claims Act statistics for the 2021 fiscal year. The amount of money awarded to False Claims Act whistleblowers was the lowest yearly total since 2008.

Kohn explains why the statistics are part of a troubling trend over recent years and what the cause of the downward shift is. According to Kohn, the downward trend in False Claims Act rewards is due to “the Department of Justice priorities, and really the Department of Justice falling way behind.”

Kohn discusses how the Department of Justice is spending taxpayer dollars to have whistleblower cases thrown out and how they have an internal policy to lower the amount of awards they issue. Kohn compares the Department of Justice’s handling of whistleblower cases to the recent record success of the SEC’s whistleblower program.

Kohn notes why the Department of Justice’s mishandling of whistleblowers is a major issue. “The only way — the best way — to detect white collar crime and corporate fraud, which is always well hidden and disguised, is through an insider,” he says. “That’s it. Every statistic shows it, every study shows it. So the more the Justice Department doesn’t use the tools it has to incentivize whistleblowers, the more that taxpayers are being badly ripped off.”

At the conclusion of the interview, Kohn references bipartisan amendments to the False Claims Act that are a necessary step to help reverse the downward trend in False Claims Act whistleblower awards.

Read or listen to the full interview: Whistleblower awards are falling faster then Facebook stock