15. Whistleblower/False Claims Act Liability

You can be liable under the False Claims Act (FCA) for actions including, but not limited to:

• Charging the government for more than what was provided;
• Seeking payment pursuant to a program for which the claimant was not eligible;
• Demanding payment for goods or services that do not conform to contractual or regulatory requirements;
• Fraudulently withholding property from the government or attempting to pay the government less than is owed in connection with any goods, services, concession, or other benefits provided by the government;
• Fraudulently seeking to obtain a government contract;
• Submitting a fraudulent application for a grant of government funds;
• Submitting a false application for a government loan;
• Requesting payment for goods or services that are defective or of lesser quality than those for which the government contracted;
• Making false statements for a loan guaranteed by the government that later defaults;
• Requesting government services to which one is not entitled;
• Submitting a claim that falsely certifies that one has complied with a law, contract term, or regulation;
• Submitting a claim by a person who has violated a statute or regulation, the violation of which is capable of influencing the payment decision;
• Submitting a false application in a multi-staged grant application process, where the second stage of the application would not have been granted had the applicant been truthful n the first stage;
• Submitting a claim for payment even though one was violating the government-funded program’s conditions of participation or payment;
• Submitting a claim that seeks payment for an estimate or opinion that one knows to be false;
• Submitting claims based on an interpretation of a regulation or contract that the defendant knows has been rejected by the government;
• Fraudulently cashing a government check or knowingly keeping government funds that were initially wrongfully or mistakenly obtained.