For more information about each award see Awards & Accolades – No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
Whistleblower Awards
Whistleblowers who have information regarding companies or individuals defrauding the federal government may be entitled to a whistleblower award if they blow the whistle the right way. At Brown, LLC, our whistleblower lawyers in Jersey City, NJ, represent individuals all over the country who wish to come forward with information that enables a federal agency to recover monies that were wrongfully billed under a statute known as the False Claims Act. New Jersey also has special state protections for whistleblowers known as CEPA, “Conscientious Employee Protection Act” which forbids retaliation or termination for an employee who blows the whistle on illegal conduct. The firm has a whistleblower team of lawyers lead by a Former FBI Special Agent who have recovered tens of millions for the government in which a whistleblower may be entitled to up to 30% of the recovery as a whistleblower award.
Under the federal False Claims Act (FCA) the information must concern individuals or companies that have committed fraud against the federal government. Many times, this manifests as Medicare Fraud, Medicaid Fraud, or Defense contractor fraud, but can happen in any permutation where improper charges are assessed to the government. Even though as a whistleblower lawyer our nerve center is located in Jersey City, NJ, we handle cases all over the country in conjunction with local counsel and know what it takes to make your case a winning case, although nothing’s guaranteed. Our firm can help you take the necessary steps to protect yourself, seek compensation, and we also protect your rights in the process.
In the last three decades, the U.S. government has paid whistleblowers hundreds of millions of dollars. Contact us at Brown, LLC and request a free, confidential consultation with our whistleblower lawyer in Jersey City, NJ, to learn if your information may qualify for a financial award.
There are four types of primary federal whistleblower awards for which your information about corporate or individual fraud against the government may fall under, and those are:
The False Claims Act (FCA) Reward Program is essentially a term people use to discuss False Claims Act whistleblower awards. It is less of a program and more of a statute that has highly technical requirements to commence an action under it and not only is it a best practice to consult with an experienced False Claims Act attorney or FCA Law Firm, but it’s essential in filing the case. That is courts consistently rule that you must have a whistleblower lawyer representing you under the False Claims Act. This statute by far has had the most recoveries for the government and the most paid in whistleblower awards totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The bulk of the FCA is brought for cases involving:
MEDICARE FRAUD
- Medicare Overbilling
- Medicare False Coding
- Medicare Billing for Services Not Rendered
- Medicare Upcoding
- Medicare Kickbacks
- Paying for referrals
- Paying a third party a piece of the action
MEDICAID FRAUD
- Medicaid Overbilling
- Medicaid False Coding
- Medicaid Billing for Services Not Rendered
- Medicaid Upcoding
- Medicaid Kickbacks
- Paying for referrals
- Paying a third party a piece of the action
PHARMACEUTICAL FRAUD
- FDA Fraud
- Promoting a product for off label use
- Selling Products that don’t work
- Pharmaceutical Kickbacks
- Paying for referrals
- Paying a third party a piece of the action
- Providing free services, good, or cash in exchange for promoting a product
DEFENSE CONTRACTOR FRAUD
- Overbilling
- Billing for services not rendered
- Kickbacks
- Not fulfilling the contract in the manner certified to the government, including not paying labor prevailing wage pursuant to the Mavis-Bacon Act
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – bribing a foreign official in exchange for goods or services or continued business
2. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Whistleblower Reward Program: this is a tax fraud program that Congress enacted in 2006. If you have information regarding tax cheats or tax underpayments by individuals or companies, you could collect a substantial reward. If the case exceeds $2 million worth of underpayments, the award could be as much as 15-30% of the total amount collected by the government. BROWN, LLC will only consider cases in which the fraud is a large amount and the proofs are extensive, since the IRS will only act on very large frauds that are handed to them on a silver platter. Examples of IRS whistleblower frauds include a company having two sets of books in which it fails to pay taxes on millions of dollars of income each year, companies with off-shore accounts failing to disclose millions of dollars each year to the IRS, and fake deductions resulting in millions of dollars of savings a year to the company or individual(s).
Click HERE to learn more about IRS Whistleblowers: Tax Fraud Whistleblower
3. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Whistleblower Program: this program is for whistleblowers who provide information to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about companies that have violated one or more of the SEC laws and/or regulations. It’s also for reporting a company that has bribed a foreign official and violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. These cases generally deal with inside trading, self-dealing, or putting the companies interests far in front of the clients. With the use of an SEC whistleblower lawyer, a client can potentially blow the whistle anonymously from start to finish. BROWN, LLC is located on the waterfront in Jersey City, NJ, which is sometimes referred to as Wall Street West. We are a 7-minute path ride from Wall Street, which is perfect since it is close enough to easily visit, but far away enough where you’re not likely to run into people you know if you come to visit. Of course, the SEC whistleblower lawyers can meet with you at a different location if needed.
Click HERE to learn more about SEC Whistleblowers
4. The Commodity Exchange Act Whistleblower Reward Program: this program is administered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). If you report a violation of a law that regulates commodities options, swaps, or futures, you may be eligible for a reward. Similar to the SEC Whistleblower provisions, this may involve inside trading, self-dealing, and putting clients’ interests last. Companies that trade and deal with products such as gas, oil, agricultural products, foreign currency, and anything else that is traded on the global market is also included in this category.
But there’s also many other statutes and even some state statutes like the California False Claims Act, California Insurance Claims Fraud Prevention Act, Illinois Insurance Claims Fraud Prevention Act New Jersey CEPA, New York False Claims Act and many more, so it is critical to speak with a law firm that has experience navigating through all the whistleblower options and statutes.
Whistleblower Reward Amounts
After a careful review of the inside information that you wish to provide, our whistleblower lawyers in Jersey City, NJ, from Brown, LLC, can discuss with you your options, likely outcomes, and whether it’s better to file the whistleblower lawsuit or proceed down a separate route. Several variables will affect the whistleblower award you may receive if any, such as the extent of the recovery, whether the government intervenes in the action or not, the length of time you were aware of the fraud but didn’t blow the whistle, whether you profited from the fraud, cooperation of counsel, and many other factors. Functionally, the actual amount of the whistleblower reward you might receive will be a percentage of how much the government actually recovers from the wrongdoer(s).
FCA and IRS tax programs may result in a reward of 15-30% of the amount recovered.
SEC and FCPA tax programs may result in a reward of 10-30% of the amount recovered.
State Whistleblower programs may be as high as 50% of the recovery as a whistleblower award if the government does not intervene.
More Whistleblower Information
If you have information about a company or an individual who has violated federal laws, such as the False Claims Act (FCA), committed Medicare Fraud or Medicaid Fraud, or is defrauding the government or the people, contact us to learn more about various whistleblower programs. At Brown, LLC, we protect whistleblowers and provide free consultations with a whistleblower lawyer. Residents from Jersey City, NJ as well as people from all over the country routinely turn to us for answers and to prosecute their whistleblower lawsuits.
