As if the nation’s expenditures to rebuild Iraq were not enough, fraud that steals taxpayer dollars continues to infect the Iraq reconstruction program. This fraud often results in qui tam whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act, which allows those reporting the fraud to receive a a share of the government’s recovery of money.
Today’s New York Times piece by James Glanz reports on the more than 50 new fraud investigations in the past six months alone in the Iraq reconstruction effort.
The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction is responsible for these investigations. “Chaos, weak oversight and wide use of cash payments in the reconstruction program in Iraq allowed many more Americans who took bribes or stole money to get off scot-free,” in Mr. Glanz’s words.
Fortunately, 2009 changes to strengthen the False Claims Act, the country’s primary whistleblower law, will allow whistleblowers reporting fraud to do so more effectively so that they may share in the dollars recovered.
Since the late 1980s, our firm’s attorneys have worked with the nation’s major whistleblower law, the False Claims Act. We have represented whistleblowers who reported fraud and false claims in many government procurement programs, including contractor fraud in Iraq reconstruction, other military contracts, NASA programs, Hurricane Katrina and other disaster relief, research grants and cooperative agreements, and of course Medicare/Medicaid fraud.
Ever since the start of the new IRS Whistleblower Program, our whistleblower lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP also have represented whistleblowers in the new program. We have represented clients with IRS Whistleblower claims in the hedge fund industry, other financial services industries, real estate, manufacturing, and many other businesses, as tax fraud, tax evasion, and other tax noncompliance are not limited to one industry.
For a free consultation about a possible whistleblower claim, please call us at 800-228-9159, or email us HERE.