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What types of fraud does the False Claims Act cover?

Riddle Brantley LLP   |  January 19, 2015   |  

The False Claims Act covers most instances of fraud involving a federally-funded program like Medicare, Medicaid, construction contracts, or defense projects. The number of possible scenarios where fraud could be committed are limitless, but in general, they consist of four general actions:

  1. Knowingly presenting to the federal government a false claim for payment;
  2. Knowingly using a false record or statement in order to get a claim paid by the federal government;
  3. Conspiring to get a false or fraudulent claim paid by the government; and/or
  4. Using a false record or statement to conceal, avoid or decrease an obligation to pay money to the federal government.

An exception to these claims are actions to avoid the payment of federal taxes. Tax fraud is covered by the IRS Whistleblower statute.