Tony Munter on Reverse False Claims

Here is a video interview of whistleblower attorney Tony Munter discussing reverse false claims cases.

Hi, I’m Tony Munter…and I want to talk about how the False Claims Act works in one of the more unusual kinds of cases, because everybody should be aware that there are many different kinds of cases that could be filed under this particular law.

The False Claims Act is the best whistleblower law out there, so figuring out what kinds of cases work to file under it can be a very useful exercise.

Most kinds of claims under the False Claims Act are pretty self-explanatory. Somebody lies to the government about what they are charging. Did they double bill? Did they lie about using steel and use a cheap metal instead? Did they claim money for X-rays nobody ever took?

Those are traditional kinds of claims under the law.

Then there is the reverse false claim. A reverse false claim occurs when somebody hides something or lies about what they owe the government. Maybe they were supposed to pay fees. Maybe they received government loans and did not pay them back. There are even a few cases out there that have said that if somebody hides a violation of a law, and that particular law has a fine attached to it, they could be liable under the False Claims Act for a reverse false claim.

Reverse false claims are complicated; case law is all over the place, but amendments to the law have strengthened the idea of what a claim is and strengthened the possibility of suing for a reverse false claim as well as for more traditional kinds of false claims cases.

The point is this: talk to a lawyer about how the government was defrauded. Think hard about the details in a case of fraud against the government. You may just be able to bring a case under the False Claims Act if you can figure out how the government lost money or how the bad guys kept money that did not belong to them.