Whistleblower Experts Host Webinar in Celebration of 158th Anniversary of the Passage of the False Claims Act

On March 2^nd, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the original False Claims Act into law. Designed to protect the United States government from contracting fraud during the Civil War, it has since been reconstructed to help whistleblowers anonymously report fraud and earn monetary rewards.

158 years later, the False Claims Act remains one of the strongest whistleblower laws in the country and helps the Department of Justice (DOJ) recover billions of dollars a year from fraudsters.

In celebration of this historic anniversary, Whistleblower Network News (WNN) hosted a free webinar to highlight the long-lasting impact of the False Claims Act.

Whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn, partner at Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, gave the introduction to the webinar and presented the history of the False Claims Act.

Next, 34-year veteran of federal government oversight Kris Kolesnik was interviewed by FBI whistleblower Jane Turner. Kolesnik served for 19 years as senior counselor and director of investigations for Senator Charles Grassley, then became executive director of the National Whistleblower Center. He then spent 10 years as the Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General as the associate inspector general for external affairs.

The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act allow for individuals to bring forth evidence of fraud to the federal government and file whistleblower reward claims on behalf of the United States. If the qui tam whistleblower provides original information of fraud that results in a successful prosecution, they are entitled to a mandatory reward of between 15% and 20% of the collected sanctions.

Since the 1986 amendments to False Claims Act, cases have recovered more than $64 billion for taxpayers, and more whistleblowers have been have been vindicated under the FCA than any other federal law.