Practice Areas

Exposing defense contracting fraud is the driving force behind the set of laws designed to protect whistleblowers. In fact, President Lincoln enacted the most important of these laws, the False Claims Act, in response to rampant fraud by defense contractors who falsely billed the Union Army for things such as sickly mules, blind horses, gunpowder mixed with sawdust, and uniforms that would dissolve in the rain.

After the Civil War, the law was diminished and mostly ignored until Congress amended and expanded it in 1986 when stories about out-of-control military spending, such as $400 hammers and $600 toilet seats, came to light.

The revived False Claims Act’s qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions protect people who come forward to report defense contractor fraud from retaliation, and allow whistleblowers to receive a portion of any amount the government recovers from the wrongdoer.

Defense contractor fraud that can give rise to a qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act includes, but is not limited to, practices such as:

• rigging bids
• cross-charging
• inflating costs
• supplying defective or deficient parts and materials
• falsifying qualifications
• failing to pay workers under the contract

Servicemen and servicewomen put their lives on the line every day, and the United States government relies heavily on whistleblowers to ensure that our troops aren’t shortchanged or needlessly endangered.

Our firm can help you enforce your rights and recover money under the False Claims Act in cases involving defense contractor fraud.

We work these kinds of cases under contingent fee arrangements, which means you owe us nothing unless we are able to recover money for you.

To learn more about your rights, we encourage you to review our Whistleblower Rights FAQ page, and to speak with one of our attorneys. You can call us at 612.486.5540, or use our contact form to request a free case evaluation. Your privacy is important to us, and we promise to treat any information we receive as strictly confidential.

 

Illustrative Case

Calnet Inc. is a company that entered into three government contracts to provide the federal government with translation services at Guantanamo Bay, among other places. Calnet overstated its overhead rates on these contracts, and thus submitted falsely inflated claims to the government for payment.

The whistleblower, a former employee, filed a qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act against Calnet for its fraudulent conduct. The government recovered $18.1 million from Calnet, and the whistleblower was rewarded $2.7 million for coming forward with information about the defense contractor fraud.

Click here to request a free case evaluation.