WASHINGTON, DC, November 16, 2016 – Peter Budetti, a former top US government official who is Of Counsel to Phillips & Cohen LLP, recently spoke in Vienna at an event hosted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) about the effectiveness of the US False Claims Act in rooting out fraud and corruption.
Dr. Budetti, a former deputy administrator with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, spoke on a panel titled “Fighting corruption and promoting the rule of law as prerequisite for economic development and business interaction.” Also speaking on the panel was Ukraine’s head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Agency of Serbia and other anti-corruption experts from around the world.
The panel was part of the OSCE’s Economic and Environmental Dimension Implementation Meeting held Oct. 17. Representatives of the group’s participating states came together to discuss how the members are implementing commitments to economic and environmental improvements.
Dr. Budetti’s presentation focused on the success of the US whistleblower program. He explained how the False Claims Act empowers private citizens to expose fraud that the government otherwise wouldn’t find out about. Under the “qui tam” provisions of the law, private citizens are empowered to sue companies and individuals that are defrauding the government and recover funds on the government’s behalf. If successful, the whistleblower is entitled to receive a percentage of the recovered funds.
OSCE has 57 participating states from across Europe, Central Asia and North America.
Dr. Budetti was also featured on the US Ambassador to the OSCE Daniel Baer’s podcast, “Right to Reply.” His interview starts 30 seconds into the episode, which can be found here.
